Fallout Wars
by Ediros
Summary: New Version is up, please check my profile, or wait for it to appear.
1. Chapter 0 - Prologue

*** Notice ***

I DO NOT OWN THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF MOSTER GIRL QUEST OR FALLOUT AND MAKE NO MONEY OFF THIS FREE ACCESS FANFICTION

***Notice End***

A lone traveller was walking down the road, his combat shoes stomping on the asphalt that has cracked decades ago. He wore a long sleeveless leather duster, covered with straps and reinforced with both deathclaw's skin and combat plates, which protected his torso. There was also an Old World Flag painted on his duster's back. The man's hair was covered by a red beret, his mouth by a breathing mask and a pair of lucky shades covering his eyes. The man was pretty tall, at least one meter eight centimetres with his both arms covered in scars so much, that it was hard to find a spot that wasn't scarred one way or another. The man also had nothing on his back or wrist and there was an air of danger surrounding the individual.

The man sighed as he glanced left and right. Everywhere he looked, he could see a desert and an occasional old world's relic, be it a long derelict car or a gas station, all of which he had already explored. Right now though, he was currently on his way to Nipton, a town raided by the Caesar's Legion sometime ago. The Legion were a bunch of tribes conquered by the man named Caesar who planned on taking over New Vegas and making it into a capital city for his nation. Unfortunately for him, he never saw that plan reach the fruition as the traveller killed him before he could accomplish his goal.

This man had many names, he was known as: Bane of the Ceasar, Wild Card of the NCR, but most people knew him as a Courier Six. During his time in the Mojave Wasteland, many things changed, some for better, some for worse. As the scorching sun blazed on the man, the time went on it silence. It seemed like everything that cared for its' life stayed as far away as it could from the man, humans and mutants alike.

It didn't take long until he reached his destination. The town was deserted, its' inhabitants dead for a few months already. One could see that radroaches, bloat flies or other creatures made the town into their new home. Seeing this, the man decided that it was as good time as any to gather some more meat for future uses. He pulled out the MF Hyperbreeder Alpha, a custom made recharger pistol, aimed it at the nearest bloat fly and pulled the trigger. A yellow beam of light was sent by the gun and hit the target between the eyes.

The insect exploded in a huge green explosion, killing the other specimens with a green shock wave before it turned into yellow pile of ash. The man walked up the corpses of the flies and searched them, finding some more meat for his future adventures. Even the ash pile gave him a huge chunk of meat, which should not be the case. The man stood up and went on through the rest of the town, doing the same thing over and over again until he was fairly certain he got rid of most of the insects.

Once he was done, he walked past the Nipton and walked up to a crashed satellite. There he pulled out an odd device, that looked like it was taken straight from a B-class Science Fiction movie. It was know as Big Mountain Transpoltarponder, a device designed by the Think Thank, which allowed him to teleport between any place in the Mojave Wasteland and the hidden research facility. The back casing was orange with an aqua-colored clear glass top containing an electronic chip to the end and a concentration of lightning in the rest, with a barrel sticking out from the front attached via black tubes running down the sides. The man pulled the trigger and then was enveloped by a blue light, before he was gone, no trace left behind.

In the different time, different place, a man stood in front of five hovering fish tanks with brains inside of them. They were known as the Think Tank, the brightest minds of the twenty first century.

"THE LOBOTOMITE HAS RETURNED, OUR LOBOTOMITE. IT IS GREAT TO SEE YOU AGAIN HERE WITH US!" Doctor Klein shouted as someone once again turned up his volume knob way too much.

"Yeah, yeah, I can hear you clearly Klein. So, what is this so called "breakthrough" that you wanted to show me?" The courier asked and gave the brain a deadpan.

"WE, THE MIGHTY THINK THANK HAVE FINALLY MANAGED TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE! WE HAVE CREATED A DEVICE THAT WILL LET US TRAVEL BETWEEN DIMENSIONS! BEHOLD OUR GENIUS!" Doctor Klein declared and hovered to the man before he handed out the device to the courier. It looked oddly similar to the Big Mountain Transpoltarponder, with the exception of having three tubes with electricity in it.

"Oh, really? And why did you build it in the first place? I hope you weren't planning on using it to escape from here and leave me behind?" Courier asked calmly as he inspected the device.

"THAT'S… a good question. WHY DIDN'T WE THINK OF IT?" Klein asked as he turned out to his colleagues.

"Well, doctor Klein. We have already talked with you about it, And we have decided that it was the courier who should test it in the first place. Someone smart and on our side," Doctor Dala answered as she gave a loving look to the courier.

"Oh… I see, then maybe I shouldn't have installed an auto start in the device...," The Klein muttered to himself.

"You did what…?!" Courier asked before an intensive blue light surrounded him and then he was gone.

"...Well, that was unexpected. So… does anyone here has got any idea how to bring him back?" asked doctor Borous.

"Well, we could build another one, but I don't know if we have got necessary components to do that," doctor Zero said as he tried to comprehend what has just happened.

"VERY WELL! WE SHALL DO IT, AND HOPE THAT HE DOESN'T LOBOTOMIZE US ONE HE GETS BACK! … That sounded way better in my head," Doctor Klein said before the Think-Tank got back to work.


	2. Chapter 1

In the sky above huge dense forest a blue light in a shape of a huge ball appeared out of nowhere. It was cracking with electricity and shooting lightnings all around it when suddenly it stopped, leaving a man in a leather duster instead. The man defied the gravity for a few seconds before it started working again and sent him crashing towards the earth. He looked at the nearing ground and changed his position so he was a bit slower instead. _This is going to hurt, a lot._ He prepared for the impact before his body crashed right into the earth. The ground shook as the man left a hole in the shape of human and a big crater.

For a few seconds the forest was silent, when suddenly a grunt of pain was heard and a bloodied hand reached the edge of the hole. Then the other hand appeared before the the man pulled himself out of the trap and rolled on his back breathing heavily. His vision was pulsing and he could feel as his insides regenerated. He was grateful for the fact that everything important stayed inside him, it was a huge pain in the ass to regenerate a liver or a stomach. _… That hurt… a lot._

He watched the sky as he gave himself a bit of time to recover. For now he was safe as his pipboy did not detect anything hostile nearby. _A piece of advice for future, never accept anything from Think Tank unless it was tested beforehand. Well then, let's see where the hell am I?_ He brought up the pipboy to his face and turned the view into the maps. The man's eyebrows raised as he read: "Rob-co Satellite Signal not detected, please change your position and try again." The man shook his head and slowly stood up onto his feet. _That's odd, I know that some of the Rob-co satellites were destroyed but I never lost contact with one so far. That means I really am in the alternate dimension or more likely somewhere far away where the satellites do not reach. China, maybe?_

Leaving these thoughts aside, the man looked around and his eyes went wide open. No matter where he looked, it was something he has never seen before, not even in Zion. The trees were all green and healthy, the sky crystal blue and the air, the air was pure, too pure in fact. He walked up to the nearest tree and put his hand on it. He gently touched the tree and then took one of the leaves littering the ground. _How is this even possible? I mean I know Zion is green and such but it is on completely different level. It looks like this place has never seen a Great War… Shit, I am no longer on Earth, am I?_

The man sighed as he realized that he was truly lost for the first time in ages. He had no clue where he was, what sort of world was this, what sort of dangers were here or even if he could communicate with anyone. Still, it made him fairly excited, a new world with new possibilities, what could possibly go wrong? Then he heard a movement in the bush and turned his head towards it, while drawing That Gun. _Speak, of the devil..._

"I know you are there, get out," he said as he put his finger on the trigger. Then he heard some sort of a noise, which sounded like a language before a blue slime shaped like a girl appeared. He raised his eyebrow and asked, "Who or maybe what are you?"

"Oh a strong looking male noticed me, puru puru. I will gladly rape you and make you come plenty," She declared as she started moving forward. In the meantime the seasoned veteran shook his head as he realized he couldn't understand a single word she said. He didn't want to hurt her, much but it seemed like he didn't have a choice. _Still, killing one of the inhabitants could prove to be a wrong idea, at the end of the day. I think, I will have to knock her unconscious… or run!_ The man turned around and started running as fast as an ordinary human male could.

"Sorry, miss, but I ain't causing trouble just now!"

"Oh, wait, come back!" the slime girl yelled, but the man was too fast and soon enough she lost him. She looked helplessly around before she sighed and gave up. Her slime crawling behind her as she moved through the forest with her shoulders dropped.

In the meantime, a couple hundred feet away, the man was leaning on a tree as he thought what was he supposed to do now. _Well, I have got no bloody clue where should I go, so let's see if my luck can help me._ The man then drew a platinum chip, a silver disc with a lucky 38 logo on it. He then tossed it into the air and said, "Tails I go south, Head I go north."

The chip landed on his hand and showed tails. Seeing this man tossed the chip again and said, "Tails west, head east." This time the chip landed perfectly on the side, not showing any of the sides. He chuckled at the sight, before he hid the chip and started heading south.

"Okay, then south it is. Still, what was that slime girl? I mean I have seen a loads of crazy shit as I travelled through wasteland, but I have never seen anything like this. More importantly, why did she look so human in the first place? What is going on here?"

The man shook his head as he spent his time pondering on these questions as he walked south through the thick forest. _I have got too little information to answer any of those. I need to find a village or something and find it more about this place. The only thing I know for certain is that slime girl had ill intentions towards me, judging by her expression. I know I could have killed her, but it's better not to make enemies as soon as you can. Who knows, maybe she is a daughter of slime queen or something and she is going to kill me in the most gruesome way, if I hurt her. Yeah, I am not going to risk it. For now, let's focus on the task at hand._

Along the way, he gathered some herbs and others he came across and hid them in one of many pockets of his duster. As he was walking south, he suddenly heard a rustle. He turned his head towards the source of sound and drew a Blood-Nap, a Bowie knife he found in the divide. "Get out, I know you are there!"

"Ho, intriguing. You are better than an average male," a voice said and a trio of dark elves jumped of the trees and stood 50 meters away from the courier. He rose his eyebrows as he contemplated the elves nice curves and size of their breast. _Damn, they are way more attractive than majority of the girls I came across. Only Veronica and Cass could come close to any of that… That's not fair!_ "Ara, do you like what you see?" The elf asked as she stretched a little, causing her breasts to bounce. "There is plenty more of this sunshine, all you have to do is come closer."

"…" _If I wasn't as smart as I am, I would have jumped straight into those girls. However, I have a feeling I would regret it and after that slime girl I am not going to risk it. In that case, run you fool!_ The courier turned around and started running to surprise of the elves.

"Tsk, you are making it really hard for us you know! Leila, shoot him!" The first elf ordered while the other one draw a bow and fired at Courier's leg. The arrow went flying through the air before it harmlessly bounced off courier's armour. "Eh…?!"

The man stopped as he glanced at his leg before he turned back towards the elves. "Okay, this is where I draw the line. I am a forgiving man, but I sure won't let you get away with attacking me. Prepare yourself!" The man declared as he pulled out a pair of golden gloves out of his coat, put them on and charged towards the elves. They retaliated by shooting their arrows but the shoots were too weak to put a dent on any part of the man's body. Seeing courier coming closer, the third elf drew her blade and swung at him. He blocked the blade with his arm and sent a right hook towards the elf. The elf staggered as she took a step back before the man followed with a strike to the stomach and knocked the elf unconscious.

"Aiesha! You will pay for it!" The elves drew their swords and charged the man as they swung at the same time. He let the swords hit as they stopped on his armour without hurting him before he repeated the attack on the second elf and then used legion assault on the other causing her to stagger and then finished her off with the next pair of attacks. He then took out a long piece of rope and tied all the elves to the nearest tree, while taking away their belongings. _Let's see a loads of rope, probably for the same purpose I had, a few nice looking daggers, some gold and arrows. Well, I will take everything as a compensation for the attack. Now then let's wait for these beauties to wake up._

"Urgh, what happened?" asked the elf knows as Aiesha, before she looked around and noticed her comrades tied up and unconscious just like she was seconds ago. She then turned towards the man and noticed that we leaning against one of trees and looking at her. She bit her lip and asked, "How did you that? Who are you?"

"Can you understand me?" Courier asked but the elf's eyes went wide as she stared at him. He sighed and put his hand on his face. _I knew it, of course they don't speak English. Fine, I am going to just walk to the nearest settlement._ He then pushed himself up and started heading south.

"Hey! Are you going to leave us here like that?!" The elf asked as she couldn't believe he was leaving just like that. The man glanced towards her before he nodded and left, leaving the elf furious. "You just wait! You will pay for this!" She yelled, but the courier didn't care as he went through the forest. _If she isn't a brain dead idiot, she should notice the ropes are fairly loose and then work her way through them. If not, well I guess they were too dumb to live in the first place._

The man sighed as he pondered whether what he did was right or wrong. It was hard to choose really. He could always kill them, but it wasn't going to help him, unless they were bandits, which he wasn't sure about. And even then he should leave it to local authorities, unless it was just like in his world then he would not hold back. Hopefully, they won't be bad that he took away their stuff. _I just love causing trouble, no matter what I do or where I go. I wonder if it is some sort of a curse or not?_

It took him a couple of hours but he finally noticed a smoke coming from the chimneys of a small village. It was fairly simple, with a huge church, many wooden houses and dirt roads. The problem was that he had no way to actually communicate, except through gestures and even then it wasn't guaranteed. _I really need to create a device that lets me understand everything, it would be much, much easier._ With a sigh the man walked down the road and entered the village. He could see people looking at him as he went towards the church. Just as he was lost in his thoughts someone rammed into him. The courier barely felt the impact as he turned towards the boy, who fell on his ass. He was small, smaller than most people he came across. He was around one meter, fifty centimetres, had a straight purple hair, a fragile figure and an innocent face. _How old is this guy? Twelve? Okay, maybe thirteen? Hmm… I wonder, if he can help me?_ The courier gave the boy a hand and pulled him up.

"Are you okay?" Courier asked and hoped the message was understood.

"… huh? I am sorry, I can't understand you," the boy answered as he looked at the man. Seeing this the man shook his head and was about to leave but the boy grabbed him by the duster and said, "Wait! Are you lost? Do you need any help?"

"If only you could speak English..." the courier muttered as he pointed at the boy then made a gesture of talking, showed his ear and shrugged.

The boy's eyes went wide open as he smiled and said, "Don't worry! I will help you!" And then he grabbed courier's hand and tried to pull it before he found out that the man didn't even budge. Seeing this courier sighed and then let the boy lead him. _At this point, I will take whatever I can get. Hopefully, he can help me out a bit._

The boy dragged the courier to the church before he walked up to another man, who was wearing some long robes and had a religious air around him. _Hmm… I wonder, what sort of religion do they have? Joshua taught me a bit and even gave me a scripture but I am not exactly a religious person. Well then, let's see what happens next._ He crossed his arms and watched as the duo talked vigorously as they glanced at the courier here and then.

It took a few seconds before the priest walked up to the courier and asked, "Can you understand me?"

"For the last time, I can not understand anything you have said..." courier said as he tried to keep calm. _I thought dead horses were bad with their language but at least they had similarities. I already miss Mojave Wasteland..._

"Hmm… it seems what you have said is true. Very well, I will teach him our language. Still, I wonder where does he come from, if he cannot speak the language that was bestowed by our goddess. Thank you, Luka, for bringing him here. One should never leave others in need," the priest thanked the boy, who smiled in turn before he bowed and turned towards the courier.

"Then I will be going, I hope you that will help you, stranger. Take care!" the hero apprentice said and headed back. The courier watched as the boy left, a small smile on boy's face.

"He is a good boy, Ilias will protect someone like him when the time comes. Follow me, stranger," the priest said as he gestured to the courier to follow him.

The duo went inside the church, through the corridors and down the stairs until they arrived in what looked like a basement. It was filled with multiple bookshelves, each one filled with countless tomes. There was also a single desk, covered in parchments and scrolls, a wooden chair and a candle on the desk. The priest lit up the candle and gestured the courier to sit at the desk. He complied and waited as the priest drew a caricature of a dog and then wrote a single word and said, "Dog."

"Dog," courier repeated, while the priest smiled and nodded.

"Very good, now write it down," the man said as he pointed at an empty piece of scroll. The courier wrote down the word and looked back at the priest, who smiled again.

That moment, courier's language learning lessons began. If one wanted to gather all the lessons and words, it would take too long to cover. However, due to courier's natural intelligence and thirst for knowledge the time needed to learn new language and knowledge took roughly around one week. Thanks to the priest, who brought him food and water, it allowed him to survive. At the end of seventh week, the priest left the basement leaving the courier alone. As the man leaned on the chair, which was incredibly uncomfortable, he pondered on the world and everything he found about it.

"So, lets' see. This continent is called Ilias and is considered the most religious and strict in the world. This entire world is inhabited by humans, who are very behind the times, compared to my world. Swords, bows, arrows and such are the most common weapons. On the other hand, we have got monsters, or more accurately monster girls. Thirty years ago, there was a town called Remina, where monsters and humans could coexist. However, today they are considered a bane of humanity and prey on men by eating their semen, which also contains their life energy and if they are sucked dry then they die. The monsters are also much, much stronger than most people and actually they absolutely require human males to breed. To make it worse, according to the records the monsters have existed on this world for more than a couple hundred years… So my question is, how the hell is anything like this?! I mean if the monsters are so much stronger humans, then why didn't they enslave them or anything like this? What stopped them from doing that? Better yet, the Ilias commandments doom the monsters and force them to hunt human males. So, if the monsters had never bred with humans they would have gone extinct long ago. Why is this world so … stagnant? It makes absolutely no sense. Grkh… it only makes my brain hurt. At least I know that the monster girls I met were actually trying to rape me and most likely make into a semen slave... So, what am I supposed to do? The inter dimensional device I got from Think-tank doesn't work for whatever reason, so I am stuck here until I find my way out. Well, great. Just what did I get myself into? In any event, I guess I either need to stay here and build a device that actually works or travel around the world… Yeah, travelling is the best option here. Well, then I might as well go out now," Courier said as he silently opened the door and sneaked through the empty church before he made his way out.

The moon shone on the sky in its' full glory, giving the village a feeling of a mystery and beauty. At the same time, there were many shadows in the village, allowing the courier to sneak past the village until he found himself next to the home, where the boy lived. He bit his lip as he stared at the simple wooden house in front of him. _On one hand, I owe him for bringing me to the priest and explaining my situation but at the same time I should leave without causing suspicion. The less they know, the better it is. Still, I guess I can at least say goodbye._ With his mind made up, the man swiftly picked up the lock and entered the house.

It was small and simple. It had a kitchen, a sink and a wooden table with four matching wooden chairs. Overall, the house felt like it was missing something or maybe someone. He slowly made his way to the boy's bed and looked at him. He was sleeping peacefully, his breathing calm. He smiled at the guy, before he snipped out a free piece of paper and wrote a simple message on it, before he left it on the boy's bed.

"Good luck, and try not to get eaten," Courier muttered, left the house, locked the door behind him and walked through the village until he reached the road that lead to Iliasburg, the biggest city on the continent. He began his journey with a smile on his face. _This world may be crazy, but at the same time I remember the Divide and the Wasteland. I wonder, if any of this can be bested? Well, then let's see about it._

The man followed the path with the help of a night vision, located in his bionic eyes, which helped him many times over during his adventures. The night was fairly quiet, excluding occasional critter, an owl or a wind that bend the trees. The courier was simply enjoying the night as he breathed in the pure air. Compared to Mojave Wasteland, it was a bit warmer during the night but colder during the day. It didn't matter that there were monsters out there, compared to the likes of Deathclaws and Tunnelers, which made them look like harmless. Not to mention invisible Nightstalkers or Cazadors. He could handle it, he was called a force of nature for a good reason.

As he was walking down the road, he noticed a plant in the middle of it. It was fairly big, but not big enough to block the road or even hinder it too much. And to top it all, it appeared on his compass as an orange, which meant not hostile at least for now, it also meant it was most likely a monster as the plants did not show up on the radar in the first place. If he attacked the plant, it would most likely retaliate with a cheap trick or something similar. So with that in mind, he simply walked past it, without a care in the world.

As the night continued, he was slowly getting closer to the Iliasburg, only drinking a bit of water from his vault thirteen canteen, followed by a squirrel or two on stick. One could question, how come the courier did not feel tired after walking for a couple of hours, through the night. To be perfectly honest, the courier didn't know himself. One day, when he returned from the Divide he noticed that his pipboy showed that his sleep meter was stuck at zero. At first, he thought it was a bug, and would most likely disappear sooner or later. However, the device hasn't changed for a second and ever since then the courier didn't need to sleep, period. He was dubious about it at first, but after a few weeks he was very welcome to that odd occurrence. It allowed him to keep up the pace at all times, no matter the situation.

In any event, as the sun finally set, he found himself standing in front of the city's main gate. It was fairly big, built out of brick and with a steel gate in the middle of it. He watched as merchants, soldiers and peasants, all wearing medieval clothes. As he walked through the gate, he noticed that people were giving him odd looks, so he hurried a little. He went through the city and made his way towards the market.

It was located on a city plaza, with a fountain inside. There were many stands, filled with countless merchandise, which made courier's stealing habit tingle before he suppressed it. _No, bad courier. Remember last time you had a bad karma? Going back into good karma, took more than I expected and I really don't want to go through it again. Especially since there are no fiends to murder._ He shook his head and began walking from stand to stand, hoping to find anything he could use. Unfortunately, it was all inferior to what he currently had, so he found himself just looking around the town and listening to people. It was mostly just rumours, but he hard some good pieces of information about Happiness Village, which apparently was in trouble as they hadn't sent a single jar of honey for quite a while.

After a couple of minutes of wandering, he noticed one of the most spectacular buildings he has ever seen in his entire life. It had at least three floors, white marble walls, huge windows, a spaced roof and looked better than anything he has ever seen in his world. Not even Lucky thirty-eight could compare to it. He whistled under his breath as he read the annotation. _All right, let's see … I wonder how much it costs… one day… 2,400,000 gold per person?!_ The courier chocked as he read the price the second time. There was no mistaking it, it clearly read 2,400,000 gold for a single day for one person. He shook his head as he glanced back at the structure. _Who can actually afford living here? I mean, even the priest, which was fairly rich wouldn't be able to afford staying a night here. I guess, I won't be able to stay here. Well them, I think its' time to go. There is nothing interesting here, that I want to get, so I can travel to Iliasport now._

Just as courier turned around, he noticed a disgusting being and grabbed the handle of a Blood-Nap out of instinct as he stared at it.

"Fufufu… I found you! My only Hero...", said a mysterious being. She looked like someone took a snake and cut of its' head and then put it on the lower half of a female body. _And I thought I have seen everything..._

"Who or maybe what are you?"

"My name is Amira... You stole my maiden heart. You filled me with love and courage. Ah, my sweet heart… an unbreakable dream." _If I didn't know any better I would have thought, that she is trying to kill me with those words. However, it is something worse… a bad poetry._ "Well, putting my situation aside… I came to profess more than just my love for you. I have got a request..."

"A request…? What is it?"

"Recently, a band of monster thieves have been rampaging around. Having Fellow monsters do such a thing… it pains my heart. Everyone else in the town is troubled, too. Even though my appearance has quite the impact… my attacks don't. Could you do something in my stead?"

"A band of thieves? Monster thieves?" Courier asked. T _hat's odd I haven't heard any rumours about this band of thieves from the citizens earlier..._ "Are you certain, I haven't heard any real rumours about them?"

"Don't insult my information gathering. There is even supposed to be a Vampire and a dragon." _A vampire and a dragon? As far as I am aware, they are one of the strongest creatures in fantasy and mythology. So, why haven't I heard any rumours about them? Something is missing._

"If there is a dragon and a vampire why there is no solid information? If they are were really that powerful, why there is so little known about them?"

"I am not certain, but the fact is that there were small robberies here and there, and the town's people are getting restless. So, please, Hero, can you not defeat the bandits?"

"That depends, what's in it for me?"

"You would ask for money from villagers, don't you want their eternal gratitude?"

"Gratitude is overrated, when the bad things come, people forget about it very fast. So, I ask again, what's in it for me?"

"Well, if you get rid of the bandits, I will spread some nice words about you for a discount and maybe even a small reward. How does that sound?"

"Medium reward, and you have got yourself a deal."

"Very well, just as I expected from the man I love! My heart… kyuuun!"

"Okay, okay, just stop grinning like this. Anyway, could you please tell me, where is the thieves hideout?"

"I don't know the exact position, but it should be to the west at the base of the mountain range."

"All right, leave it to me."

"Ahhh, just as I expected from my darling! I love you! I'll wait for the good news..." Amira said and crawled away. _What is wrong with these monsters? They want to either eat me, rape me, kill me or something else. And now I attracted a freak of nature that fell in love with me… Doesn't this beat it all?_

The man shook his head as he headed out of the city and made his way towards the west of it. He walked down the path and after a few hours, he reached the base of the mountain's range. _Now that I think of it, I have got no clue, where to look. Am I supposed to look all around here until I came across one of those bandits? That sounds too time consuming._ The man began walking aimlessly until he noticed a movement behind a rock. He put on his golden gloves as he came closer to the rock, before something small jumped out.

"Yai! Give me your money!" demanded a small Goblin Girl. She had a huge hammer bigger than her and some kind of tribal outfit. She was small, compared to courier and reached slightly above his waist.

"Let me guess, you're one of the bandits? Am I correct?"

"Indeed! I'm the Goblin Bandit of the Four Bandits! If you get it, then give me all your money!"

"You know, I think you are mistaken. I am not here to pay a tribute, I am here to solve the trouble the Four Bandits have caused to Iliasburg."

"Eeeehhhh…? Are you for real?"

"I am one hundred percent serious," Courier said.

"Hmm…" The goblin girl frowned, as she glanced between the man and his glooves "What should I do… He looks quite strong, but I want to play with the wielder… All right, bring it, Hero! The Goblin Bandit of the Earth of the Four Bandits shall be your opponent!"

"Where did "of the earth" come from this time?"

"Eat this! Sand Hurricane!" The Goblin Girl picked up some sand at her feet and threw at Courier. He shielded his eyes as he felt the grains of salt hit his glove.

"Just what did you expect to do with such attack?" He asked as he looked at the Goblin Girl.

"An opening?! Feel the wrath of the Earth! Earth Crashing Goblin!" shouted the Goblin Girl, raised her hammer behind her and began approaching. The big hammer was slowly being dragged on the ground as she moved inch by inch towards the courier.

"..." _Is she for real? It has got way too long of a setup time. Everyone with a half a brain and some reflex can dodge that… And that name … Earth Crashing Goblin…_

"Taaake thiiis!" The Goblin Girl shouted as she brought down her hammer with all her strength. However, before the hammer could connect the courier sidestepped and looked as the weapon made a huge dent in the ground. _If I got hit by that I might have actually felt it, impressive. Though It's meaningless if she can't hit me, though._

"That attack is way too slow, you know?" courier said and then punched the girl once, knocking her unconscious. He then took the big hammer and pushed it deep inside of his pockets, before he pulled out a long piece of rope and tied the little monster girl, before he hanged her over his shoulder and started walking.

"Urgh… what happened?" Goblin Girl asked as she looked around and noticed she was all tied up. She struggled for a few seconds, before she glared at the courier as hard as she could from her position and said, "Hey! Let me go!"

"No, but I will make a deal with you," courier said as he put the goblin girl on the ground and knelt before her. He looked at her from behind his lucky glasses and said, "If you tell me, where are the rest of the bandits I will give you a toy for it."

"Hmph, you need something better to bribe me."

"Very well, two toys and a three cookies filled with chocolate. How does that sound?" The courier asked, while the girl pondered on the proposal.

"Can I have four toys and twice as cookies?"

"Three toys and three cookies, give or take."

"Deal," the girl said, while the courier smiled. He then pulled out Dinky the T-Rex souvenir, a Teddy bear, a Toy Car and three cookies, which he showed to the girl. He packed the toys and two of the cookies into a separate bag, before letting the Goblin Girl taste the third cookie. She took a bite, pondered on the taste before she smiled and chomped on the rest of the courier's hand eating the rest of it. He felt her tongue as it came across every little ounce of the cookie. Then she let go off his hand and said with a smile, "Okay. The hideout is located a few hundred meters away from here. Take the path on the right and you should be able to find it."

"Thank you, for your cooperation," the courier said, petted the girl on the head, before he tied the bag with the toys and sweets to the Goblin Girl and then put her over his shoulder. He then began walking and after a couple of minutes, he found an entrance to the cave. "Is it here?" The courier asked, while the Goblin Girl nodded. He then entered the cave and shortly after he heard a voice.

"Gob, why did you tell us about our hideout?!" asked the voice from within the cave.

"He gave me cookies! And toys!" Goblin Girl declared. Out of darkness came a small monster. She had a lower half of a snake and a body of small girl. S _he looks pretty young, if I had to guess around eleven years old in human years. Well, then let's get this over with._ After that the courier prepared his golden gloves as he stared at the tiny cute lamia.

"Very well, Hero. I shall be your opponent! Lamia Bandit of the water of the Four Bandits has arrived!"

"I can see that..."

"Fufu… Do you want me to coil around you?!" Tiny Lamia asked as she laughed in a ridiculous way, while the courier just face-palmed and groaned as he stared at the monster. "Why do you look so disappointed?! How can you have that face when facing me?!"

Tiny Lamia attacked first and wrapped her tiny tail around the courier. He watched as the Lamia barely managed to coil her entire body to his waist. "Heeheeheee… I'll squeze you even harder."

"..." The courier just gave the girl a deadpan as he wondered what to do. _She's wrapped around me, but she is so weak I can't even feel the pressure. Though, it seems like she's putting a lot of effort into it._

"Hahaha! Wrapped by my powerful tail… All that's left is to strangle my prey..." The courier had to keep himself from shooting himself in the face as he stared at one of the least dangerous enemies he has ever fought. "Heeheeehee… Let me hear you scream in agony!"

"Up you go..." Courier said as he picked up the Tiny Lamia and unwinded her tail off him. S _he is weak, like radroach level weak. No wonder there were barely any rumours about those bandits._

"..." The courier stared into the Tiny Lamia's eyes as he lifted her up. Shortly after tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and the Tiny Lamia started crying."Waaaaahhhhh! Why didn't it work?!"

"You are too young and inexperienced to make any threats. You need to grow up first, before you can actually challenge someone to a fair fight," Courier said as he held the Tiny Lamia in his hands. He felt really bad now. It was one thing to kill bandits, rapists like Cook Cook or Driver Nephi, but making children cry? This was something he really hated and not even once he did anything like this, until today that is. He had no clue what to do, so he shook his head, hugged the Tiny Lamia and started petting her head. "Shhhhh… it's okay. I won't hurt you or your friends, I promise."

At first Tiny Lamia was surprised, but she returned the hug and began sobbing in his arm, her tail wrapping around him. He let her cry for a few seconds, until she calmed before he gently lowered her to the ground. She looked at him and asked, "Why are you so kind to us?"

"Because even if you are monsters, you are still children. I have never hurt a child and I want it to stay this way. Look, I only want you to stop stealing from the town, nothing more. If you lead me to the rest of your friends then at most I will knock them unconscious."

"Do you promise?" She asked with tears in her eyes. The courier knelt and petted her on her head.

"It's a promise, now I hope you don't mind, but I I have to do this," The courier said as he punched the Tiny Lamia with his Golden Glove. He then tied her up and put her on his back, alongside her friend before he went deeper into the cave.

"Kukuku...You're pretty good to beat the Earth Goblin and the Water Lamia...But I won't be so easy!" Vampire Girl declared. "I am the terror that flaps in the night… The Vampire Bandit of the Wind of The Four Bandits shall be your opponent! Kukuku… tonight I shall feast on you."

"..." _It's certainly a vampire and a lot smaller than I expected._ The cute little Vampire laughed as she swung her mantle around. Then the courier sighed before he put the previous two bandits against the wall and focused on the vampire.

"Here I come! I'll suck out all of your energy!" Vampire girl shouted and dispersed into hundreds of bats. The bats attacked the courier, while he covered his face.

"So, where did she go?" After the bats flew away, Courier still couldn't see the Vampire anywhere.

"Kukuku… I'm right here!" Vampire girl shouted as she jumped on Courier's back.

"..." Courier sighed as he picked up the Vampire and took her of him.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" she asked, while the courier held the helpless Vampire as she struggled in his grip. Tears gathered in her eyes and then the vampire started crying "Waaah! Why are you being so mean!"

"Sorry," courier apologized as he stared at the vampire.

"*Sniff**Sniff*" Wiping tears from her eyes, the tiny Vampire stared at Courier's face. _What is she going to do?_ "I won't forgive you for that! It it's come to this… I'll show you my true power! Just wait a second, I'll focus all my magic! Once I'm done, just look at my eyes, ok?" The Vampire girl started to focus her magic. "Now, look at my eyes!"

"…" The Vampire Girl's eyes shined! And the courier looked straight into them!

"Hahaha! Now you are under my control! Put me down, my loyal servant!"

"… And what if I say no?" Courier asked as he stared at the vampire. _It looks like I was lucky, the magic didn't work on me. Still, I wonder why? Is it because she is too weak? Or maybe, something else? Or maybe my body is so mutated and twisted that mind control and magic no longer work on it? That would be nice, I have to put it to the test somehow._

"What?! Impossible! How?"

"I am not really sure myself…" courier admitted as he held the vampire in his arms.

"Waah!" the vampire cried in his grip. _What was this fight supposed to be…?_

"By the way… You said Of the Wind, but you didn't use any wind attacks…?"

"I can't… We're only imitating the Four Heavenly Knights…"

"I see, that explains it. In any event, I hope you don't mind but you will have to join your friends," Courier said and quickly tied up the vampire before he put her on his back, which was getting very crowded.

"So, he beat you up too, Vanilla?"

"Shut up, Gob. It's all your fault, if you hadn't told him about our hideout he would have never found it!"

"But he gave me toys! And Cookies!"

"He did? Hey, hero, can I have some cookies too?"

"I want some cookies myself," added Tiny Lamia as she woke up.

"As far as I am aware, I only made deal with the one of you, so why would I give you one?"

"You are a meanie! Waaaaahhhh!" Vampire Girl cried, while the Tiny Lamia sobbed.

"Urgh… Okay! Fine! I will give you all the same things I gave the goblin girl, after I deal with the last bandit. Does it sound all right with you?" Courier asked and the trio cheered on his back. It was a ridiculous situation. He had three tiny monster girls on his back, who were persuasive enough to force him to give stuff away for free. _Oh, how the mighty have fallen._

The courier went deeper into the cave, but then noticed a yellow blip on his compass, so he put the bandits on the ground and called, "I know you are there, come out."

"Wahaha! Good Job making it this far!" Dragon Pup appeared! "Gao!" I knew it. Once again so tiny and cute. _Damn it all, I kind of hoped for some battle royal or something. Well, I guess you can't have everything._ "The last of the four, this Dragon of Fire of the Four Bandits shall be your opponent! Coming so far into our hideout… you must be a true Hero!"

"Trust me, I am not. Anyway, shall we fight?"

"Gao!" Flames shoot out of the Dragon Pup's mouth and landed on his armour, without dealing a single point of damage.

"Is that all you have got?" Courier asked as he stared at the Dragon Pup.

"U..uuuu," Tears started to appear in her eyes. However, she shook them off. "Uuuu….Uga!" The Dragon Pup Jumped on the courier, but he was faster and grabbed her mid-air, before he used Ranger's Take down and knocked her to the ground, bending her right arm behind her.

"Uga!" The Dragon Pup squirmed on the ground as she tried to shake off the courier to no avail. "Ugaga! Uuuu!" Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and the monster began crying.

"Are you done, yet?" Courier asked, while the Dragon Pup nodded her head. He then tied her up and set her down along the rest of the bandits. "Okay, now that we got this all out of the way, can you tell me, why did you decide to steal from the town?" Courier asked as he towered over the four monsters.

"We… were desperate," started Tiny Lamia as she averted her gaze.

"We were too weak to hunt and there wasn't much food in here..." said Vampire Girl.

"We … didn't want to steal, but we had no choice," Tiny Lamia said as she looked back at the courier.

He looked at the bandits, massaged his temple and said, "I guess I can understand that. Considering the fact that there are many people, who straight out hate monsters it makes sense you hid in the mountains and then resorted to stealing. Still, in the long run, it will only get worse. So far, you have been more of a nuisance than a threat, but if you continue going on this way heroes will come and try to kill you..."

"No please don't let them hurt us! Waaaahhhh!" Cried the Goblin Girl with the rest of the bandits.

"Calm down, I am not going to let anyone hurt you. However, we need to find you a place to stay. I think that if we go to Iliasburg and then you apologize, then we should be able to convince to forgive them."

"But, what if they don't? What if they try to hurt us?" Vampire Girl asked, tears in her eyes.

"I won't let them. And if they try, then let's say professionals have standards: be polite, be efficient, have a plan to kill everyone you meet." Courier answered, a feral grin on his face, causing the girls to shiver. "Wait, I didn't mean to scare you. Point is they will regret it a lot, now then, I believe I need to keep my end of a deal," Courier said and the pulled out from his never ending duster another three bags, each one packed with three toys and three cookies then tied one to each of the monsters. "See? I kept my promise, now then let's go."

"You… You're a such a good guy..." Dragon Pup said as she smiled and looked at her new presents. The courier and four crying monsters headed to Iliasburg.

"I'm really sorry for bothering you..." apologized Goblin Girl.

"I'm so sorry..." said Tiny Lamia.

"I'm sorry..." said Vampire Girl.

"So sorry..." said Dragon Pup. In the central plaza, the monsters apologized over and over.

"Geeze, the bandits were little things like this?" asked Citizen A.

"I saw them a few times, and I thought they might be kids… I guess it was true." said Citizen B.

"We have to punish the bad boss dragon..." said Citizen C.

"Well, they do deserve punishment, after all they caused you trouble," Courier said as he stood in front of the bandits. "However, they apologized and they haven't hurt anybody and they have only stolen some bits and pieces. They will have to work to repay that, but if you want to give them any sort of corporal punishment then I dare you, lay a finger on any of them and I'll kill everyone in this whole damn city." _I must be getting old, then again I do feel like a parent or at least their guardian._

"Guh, I didn't mean it that way, I apologize," answered Citizen C as he took a step back, clearly shaken. Most of the residents were just as terrified for a few seconds, but they managed to get a grip on themselves.

"It seems like they're sorry, why not forgive them? They must have had it hard too..." said Sutherland Inn Owner.

"There were a lot of monsters in the forest twenty years ago. Once these bandits showed up, it looks like they fled," said Elder person.

"These bandits really didn't do much. We were just scared because there was a dragon and a vampire." Tool Shop Owner said.

"Well, it's like that then. Now, you'll put in an honest day's work,"said Sutherland Inn Owner.

"Fa...Ok..." muttered Goblin Girl.

"Thank you...*Sniffle*" muttered Vampire Girl.

"Hey dragon, can you breathe fire? If you can, I'll give you a job," said Weapon Shop Owner.

"Hey goblin, you look pretty strong. Do you want to work in the warehouse?" asked Warehouse Manager. It seems like, they have accepted them.

"All's well, that ends well," Courier said with a smile. "Hmm…?" Courier asked as the Dragon Pup pulled on his sleeve.

"You helped me so much… Let me give you this," said the girl as handed over a beautiful red gem, while she was beaming at the young Brood.

"You are welcome, but what is this?"

"Some rich people saw me by the hideout and ran away. This gem dropped out of their luggage. I think it's a really valuable treasure."

"I see. But, it is all right to give me something so valuable? Well, In any event, thank you very much for this gift, I appreciate it," Courier said as he petted the young dragon on her head, making her smile. He then hid the gem inside one of his many pockets. Then he turned towards city's gate and started walking.

"We won't do bad things anymore! We will become amazing monsters, and help the world!" said the four of them.

"As long as it makes you happy, give me a shout if anything happens, okay?" said Courier, while the bandits grinned and nodded before he left the plaza.

"Just as I expected!" declared Amira as she appeared out of nowhere.

"Again?" Courier asked a bit surprised.

"Of course I came again. I'm the surprise true heroine, after all."

"When did you become the heroine? In any event, could I have my reward now?" Courier asked as he raised his eyebrows.

"Of course, here it is," Unfortunate Lamia as she haned a courier a bag with one thousand gold in it. "Actually… a wicked wizard turned me into this ugly sight. If I get a Hero's kiss, I'll return back to my princess form..."

"Sorry, Amira, but I am not falling for that," Courier said as he rolled his eyes and counted the money. _That's a lot less than I expected, then again, who can really afford that inn, outside of billionaires?_

"Che. You saw through it..." clicking her tongue the Lamia sighed. "There's no helping it… It look like I'll have to use my newly acquired magic. Here I go! Heart Splash!" A sword slash effect played instead! "Bah that was the wrong screen effect! Heart Splash was supposed to be effect number eight. Gah!" Amira dispersed into tiny particles.

"What was that…? You know what, forget it. I don't even want to know. In any event, I remember people talking about this whole Happiness Village, so let's go and visit it," Courier said to himself as he left the Iliasburg and hit the road. _I wonder, what happened to Happiness Village? There wasn't much information about the village in the records, so I am basically blind about the matter. Well, let's go there and see it._

Chapter 1 END


	3. Chapter 2

As the courier was walking down the dirt road, he heard a buzzing of wings, similar to that of a Cazador, but much louder. As he looked into the sky, he noticed a monster descending towards him. She looked like someone spliced a honey bee and a human female. She had a pair of wings, yellow hair and a honeycomb-like abdomen located on her back.

"Fufu… an unbaptised traveller. You look delicious," said Bee Girl as she licked her lips and stared at the courier, honey dropping from the next attached to her abdomen. "I'll spread my honey all over you, and slowly lick it off… Let my tongue taste every part of you..."

"I don't think you would want it, I taste terrible, I haven't bathed for a week," Courier declared as he drew his pair of golden gloves.. The Bee Girl, either didn't care or didn't listen as she send a batch of honey flying towards the man. The honey hit its' mark before the courier could react. The courier looked at his clothes, sighed and gathered some of the honey on his finger before he licked it. He tasted the sweet liquid, nodded in approval and said, "That is one of best things I have ever eaten, props to you."

"Fufu… I'm so happy. Covered in my sweet honey, let me lick you all over. Of course, I'll lick your dick too… Your delicious semen will be even better mixed with my honey."

"Hmm, before you attack me, again, can I ask you a question? Are the bee girls part of the Happiness Village and source of the sweet honey, it is famous for?" Courier asked as he held his arms ready.

"That is correct, without us Bee Girls, this village wouldn't be nearly as famous. Now then, be a good man and let me lick you all over," The Bee Girl said and launched herself towards Courier. Seeing this, the man planted his foot in her face, stopping her movement. The Bee Girl stepped back, a nasty mark on her face.

"You kicked me!" She exclaimed as she glared daggers at Courier.

"And what else was I supposed to do? Hug you? No thanks," He said before he sent two straight punches towards the monster, knocking her unconscious. He looked at her abdomen, pulled out an empty bottle and gathered some of the honey into it, before he left the monster behind.

"I see, what she said makes it a bit less vague. So the Happiness Village is prospering because of the Bee Girls, without them there won't be any honey. So, it means that something must have happened in the village. I wonder, what is the cause of this shortage? I mean the Bee Girl had a load of honey on her, so either the village can't do it anymore or something is stopping them… Well, then, this is actually kind of interesting," The man said as he marched forward towards the village. After a couple of hours, he finally reached his destination.

It was a small village in a shape of a wheel. The houses were made of wood, and only one stood out, which was twice bigger than the rest of the houses. However, the most unusual about it was the fact that there were no men in sight, except a little boy helping to transport one of the logs. Even the heavy labour was being done by the women. _I see, so that's why there is so little production. Females can be strong, but most of them are not meant for heavy labour, so it makes sense they couldn't keep the pace. Still, what happened to all the man?_

"Oh, a traveller? A young one, at that," said a woman, who was working at a field. "You came all the way here, but we don't really have anything to entertain a traveller with. Due to a shortage of manpower, we have a shortage of our speciality Happiness Honey, too..."

"Why is there a shortage in the first place?"

"Waaaa!" the young boy screamed.

"What the...?" Courier asked as he run in the direction of the scream and drew his gloves.

"Uwaa! Help me!" shouted Little Boy, grabbed by the harpy.

"Let go of the boy," Courier threatened calmly as he walked towards the harpy, his gloves ready. In the meantime all the other villagers run inside their homes.

"Huh? I haven't seen you in this village before… Are you a traveller?" asked the Harpy as she sized the courier with her eyes. Suddenly she released the boy and smiled, as she licked her lips. "All right… I'll let the boy go. Instead… I'll kidnap you!" In the meantime the boy ran away towards one of the houses. "Heehee… you're so much nicer than that little boy. I'll take you back to my nest, and we can make lots of children. Or we can start making them right here…? Be a good male and make a lot of children with me..."

"Children?! Are you nuts?! I am too young for the marriage!" Courier declared as he stood in the combat stance. _Well, at least she is attractive compared to the other monsters I have met so far and doesn't want to kill me or eat me, but that is not saying much._ He breathed out and charged towards the harpy. But the harpy flew into the sky, avoiding courier's attack! "Hey! That's not fair, I can't fly!"

"How is it unfair? I'm flying with my own wings..."

"I guess..." Courier admitted as he looked up helplessly. _Damn it all, at a time like this I really wish I could use some of my gear but it's not worth it. I mean it would cause a lot of attention and questions, both of which I dislike. All right, let's see if I can find an opening._ Courier took a defensive stance as he kept his eyes on his opponent.

"Hehehe… It's time to mate," Harpy said as she tried to push the courier to the ground him to the ground, only to be grabbed by the courier, who put her in a bear hug. "Hey! That's not how it's supposed to go! I am the one that should be holding you on the ground, not the other way around!"

"Sorry miss, but I am not going to let you do that," Courier said before he head butted the harpy and let her go as she staggered on her feet.

"Garkh! That hurt! I'll… I'll let you go with just this much today!" Harpy yelled before she flew away. Courier watched as she flew away for a few seconds, before he put away his gloves.

"What happened?!" asked the woman.

"The traveller drove the Harpy away? Amazing!"A girl said. At the same time, the villagers came out of their houses and gathered around Courier. _Not a single man, not even an older one. So the harpies kidnapped all of them? But why? Why would they need an entire village of man?_

"Driving of the Harpy… You must be really skilled!" From among the crowd an old woman with a stern face stood in front of Courier.

"May I ask, who exactly are you?"

"I'm the village chief's wife… Since he has been kidnapped, I am the acting village chief."

"Barricading yourself in a house even as a child is being abducted? Can you really call yourself a chief like that? Actually, not a single person in this village tried to help..." Courier said as he looked at the villagers with a disgust on his face.

"…What can weak people like us do? Now, traveller. We hate to impose, but we have a favour to ask of you..."

"Oh boy, here it comes. Now you are going to going to try to force your problems on me."

"..." The old woman's face flashed with anger but she continued her speech, "I'm sure you are aware, but there are no men in this village. As you saw earlier, the harpies are kidnapping all of our men."

"The man I married two months ago was kidnapped..."

"My new husband, too! Even though he came from another village, he was kidnapped a month ago..."

"Even my fourteen year old son… Those harpies again..."

"I see..." _Kidnapped two months ago, so how come nobody knows about it? Why weren't there other people to help them? Or maybe there were?_ "By the way, what are they doing with all of the kidnapped men?"

"We don't know… None of them have ever returned. Are they worked as slaves? Eaten for food? We have got no idea."

"Hmm…," Courier muttered. _I doubt they were eaten, if they were why didn't monsters come for the women too? Maybe they are enslaved, who knows? But at the same time, this harpy was talking about the kids and such. Could it be that they target the men for reproduction? If so, then it would make sense why none of them returned._

"With no men, this village is doomed to fade away. Please, traveller. Can you root out the harpies, and return peace to our village?"

"Why don't you do it yourselves? What meaning is there to bringing peace if you can't maintain it by yourselves? To rely on outsiders while hiding in your houses… How pathetic. Well, in any case… Where do they take all of the men?"

"It seems like there is a settlement to the east of this village, in the forest." _And if you know about it, why haven't you done anything about? Just how many people did go that way?_

"Are you really going to defeat them…?"

"Yay! Thank you so much, traveller!"

"Just how many travellers have you sent to defeat these harpies?" Courier asked as he glared at the villagers.

"So far seven people have headed off to defeat them… None returned." _Just as I suspected. I knew it was odd, when they told the kidnappings were from two months ago and nothing changed._

"I knew it, but I expected... I don't know less? You really make it hard, to make me want to help you."

"We don't have a way to fight, though… We're powerless."

"Even so, you've sent seven travellers to their death. Now you're trying to send me? For sure the harpies are doing something bad. But you all aren't much better." Not arguing with the courier, all the villagers silently stared at the ground. "You know what, fine I will help you. However, I expect some sort of reward for that, is that all right with you?"

"If you manage to bring back peace to this village, you shall be given enough honey to last a lifetime," The elder said as she looked at the courier.

"Hmm… That sounds good enough for me, you have got yourself a deal," courier said and shook the Elder's hand.

"...I'll go too!" The woman suddenly shouted out. "My husband died early due to a sickness… My only son, Mark, was stolen by them! If he's still alive, I'm sure he's waiting for someone to help him… As a mother, I have to go!"

"It's too dangerous, Martha!" elder exclaimed.

"I'm coming too! It's as the traveller said. In spite of the dire situation, we all just hid in our houses. We're cowards."

"That's right… We have to defend our village!"

"My eyes are finally open. This is our village's problem," another woman said. After a few minutes, all the villagers came to an agreement. Every woman gathered around has decided to attack the harpies village.

"But everyone..." Village Chief started.

"It's too late, village chief. We can't push an unrelated traveller to solve our problems."

"That's right. If we all band together, I'm sure we can do something..."

"Even if you band up, we still need some sort of a plan. From what I can tell, killing a leader causes the rest of the troops to fall apart, so if I manage to do that the rest of the harpies should fall into chaos. In that case, I want you to find a good position to wait. Once I beat the leader, I'll give you all a signal to attack." _This way, they hopefully won't get hurt too much. If I manage to sneak past the harpies, it would be even easier. Well then, let's wait for the night._

"Everyone is ready!"

"My first fight… I'll do my best!"

"Okay then, let's head out to the east," Courier said. "Don't push yourselves, got it?" The group headed out of the village towards the harpies location.

"This is it… A little bit further, and you'll come onto the harpies village."

"All right. I'll defeat the leader and send the signal. Once they're all confused and panicking, you will come in."

"Be careful! If it gets too dangerous, run away!" the woman said, while the courier nodded. He crouched and began sneaking through the forest. The sun was setting down as he made his way towards the village, his bionic eyes set for thermal vision. After a couple of minutes he came in a proximity of the village. There were houses in all of the trees. And then, in the tallest tree, was the biggest house of all. _That looks important, I'd better go and check it out._

"I made it this far, without being noticed..." he muttered as he sneaked towards the tallest tree, he suddenly heard a voice.

"Do you need something from my house…?" A flap of wings was heard behind him. He turned around to see an unusual sight. He was greeted with a regal looking harpy, standing alone.

"Are you by any chance, the leader of the harpies?"

"Indeed, I am the Queen Harpy. Do you need something from me? However, I have got a pretty good guess..."

"I am here for all the man you kidnapped, I want you to return them to their families," Courier said as he eyed the Harpy waiting for the response.

"I am afraid I cannot do that. We are forced to do this, because humans cannot live peacefully with us."

"What do you mean…?"

"I have no reason to explain myself to you. This is something of critical importance to us, as well."

"I don't suppose we can talk this through, can we? I guess, we will have to fight," Courier said as he drew his set of spiked knuckles called Love and Hate.

"So it comes down to force, does it… Then allow me to show you the power of the Harpy Queen! Pointing a sword at a Queen is a rather big crime. No matter the reason, rape is the punishment. I shall personally see to carrying out your punishment." _I wonder what can be so important that makes her go that far. If I have to guess, It seems something severe that she cannot help… Hmm, I think I might have an idea or two, why did they kidnap all those men._ Courier breathed out and charged at the harpy, expecting her to fly away. He was genuinely surprised when his fist connected with the target before he jumped back out instinct.

"I see… You aren't too bad with your fists."

"Why didn't you fly away, like the others?" Courier asked as he eyed his opponent.

"The Queen Harpy wouldn't fight in such a sloppy way. Shall I rub you with my wings…?" The Queen Harpy rubbed the courier with her soft feathers! But the courier didn't react. _At a times like these, I really am grateful for all the implants I have got in my body, especially my new spine. It allows me to block out anything I want. Which means, I am not distracted by pain or pleasure during the fight but I know if someone hurts me. Luckilly, it works against monsters too._

"Fufu..." The Queen Harpy spread her wings! The Queen Harpy is completely still! "Give me your best shot. You're too pathetic to hurt me."

"...No offence, but do you honestly think I am going to fall for that trap?" Courier asked as he gave the harpy a deadpan.

"You're pretty clever..." Queen Harpy said and put down her wings. Seeing the opening, Courier punched the harpy with his might."How could I…?" Dealt a final blow, the Queen Harpy slumped to the ground. _It doesn't look like she can fight back any longer._

"Now, let's throw this thing up," Courier said as he threw a magic cylinder given to him by the villagers. After a second the cylinder exploded, showering colourful light all over the area. He then sighed and stood in front of the Harpy Queen, as the villagers charged in.

"Charge!"

"Oh Illias, give me strength!" The woman from the Happiness Village all came rushing in from their hiding places in the bushes and quickly made it to where the courier was standing.

"So you're the leader!"

"While you hold down the boss, we'll..."

"I see… The villagers came to rescue the men..." Queen Harpy muttered.

She was about to be surrounded when suddenly Courier turned towards villagers, gave them a death glare and said, "Don't you dare come any closer." The Villagers stopped in an instant, betrayal evident on their faces, while Queen Harpy looked surprised at the mailman.

"Queen! What's going on?!"

"Humans are attacking?!" _It seems like all the sleeping harpies are waking up at the noise._

"Queen Harpy," Courier said as he turned towards the monster girl. He then smiled, although it more resembled an apologetic smile more than anything else and gave her his hand. She was a bit surprised but took it and stood up.

"Why are you…?"

"Let's just say that I have got a hunch what is going on," Courier said and hid his weapon. Shortly after a huge group of man came charging in.

"Hey! Wait! Stop That!" Old man said.

"Don't hurt the Queen…?" Young Man said as he looked at the scene. Jumping out of the tree houses, men started to crowd around the duo. From young to old, they all started to come out and surrounded the duo. They looked at the courier then at the villagers before they stopped around the duo, protecting them.

"Fa...Father?!"

"Mark! You're safe!" The village women rushed the men in joy.

"I knew it," Courier said with a smile as he glanced at the men. They were dressed normally, and looked healthy. _I don't think any of those guys was forced to stay here against his will._

"Mark! What happened to you?!"

"M...Mother… Let me introduce you to my wife, Piana." The man pointed at a harpy standing next to him. "And… This is our daughter, Pipi."

"...Grandma?" The tiny harpy walked up to the woman and flapped her wings. Everywhere courier turned was a similar scene.

"Father… What do you mean?"

"Aa… Well… What I'm saying is… Reine is your new stepmother."

"...Ni...Nice to meet you..." A harpy that looked to be around the same age as the young woman introduced herself.

"Impossible… The traveller we sent in here a year ago..." muttered Elder of the village.

"Ah… I'm not a traveller anymore… I actually have seven children now."

"It's like that… Will you stop attacking the harpies?"

"They are our wives and children… So please stop hurting them..."

"So this harpy… Is my granddaughter…?"

"My stepmother… is a harpy?"

"That's right. These harpies are our family now," said the true Elder of the village, the one who was kidnapped by the harpies.

"Chief?!"

"You were still alive?!" exclaimed his wife, clearly shocked.

"The harpies are our family, and so are the village women. We shouldn't allow our two families to fight each other."

"That's right! My mother's family is now Piana's family too. Let's stop fighting!"

"That's right!" As all the village women are standing around looking dumbfounded the Queen Harpy started to speak.

"Since we can be nothing but female, we would be unable to breed it we did not borrow human males. However, with humans coming to hate monsters, what choice did we have? We don't want to die out. You can't just take them all away..."

"We never hurt any of the men, we made sure they were happy..." said Harpy A.

"That's right, the men are too important to injure or force them against their will..." said Harpy B.

"So the men simply enjoyed being with you, there have never been any violence and it is just one big misunderstanding?" Courier asked as he looked at the harpies.

"Of course! They made me feel young again! Every night..." muttered Chief.

"I see… Can I talk with you over there for a second?"

"Hii! Honey, I can explain, really! Everyone is a big family! Wouldn't that be the best!" the Village Chief yelled out while his wife wrung his neck.

"So, now what?" Courier asked as he watched the spectacle before his eyes. The arguments lasted a couple of hours and continued into the night…

"Well then… We won't forcibly kidnap men from the Happiness Village anymore," Queen Harpy said.

"Hrm. We will send men from our village to marry harpies. In return, the harpies must also help with the farming and bee-keeping in our village," Elder said. Not long after it was time for a festival. Harpies and Humans alike were dancing drunk in the village square.

"This is all thanks to you. On behalf of everyone in Happiness Village, allow me to thank you," said one of the villages."We'll give you plenty of Happiness Honey. Right now we only have got enough for one jar, though."

"Well, I can accept this. Pleasure doing business with you. Still, can you convince the men to marry a harpy?" Courier muttered as he watched the festival.

"Don't bother worrying, young man. With this, our villages will join together in peace, and forge a deep bond. Most importantly, once you feel the pleasure a harpy can bring, a human just won't do it for you anymore."

"Your wife is right behind you..." _Well, I guess that adds another point why I should avoid pleasure attacks in general. Now that I think about it...This whole situation is the result of Remina and the hatred that grew from it. No wonder they harpies have done, what they have done. To top it all, there are Ilias's commandments, which make it even more complicated. If a man rejected a harpy they would have to force him and this is how we ended up at this point. Without men harpies would go extinct, even more all the monsters would go extinct at one point because of that. Still I find it ironic, that it this all a result of neither of the sides communicating with each other._

The next morning came way sooner than expected. "We are indebted to you, traveller," The Elder said.

"Please come to our village again, we'll be glad to have you!" said one of the villagers.

"Even though we had our reasons, we were still wrong. Because of you, we were able to correct it. I wish you a safe journey."

"You are welcome," Courier said with a smile.

"Thank you! Come play with us again!" said a villager.

"Please be safe!" said one of the women.

"Heehee… Come and play again! We'll be glad to be your partners then..." one of the harpies said.

"You know, that I might even take up on that offer one day?" Courier said with a smile, before he left the village, turned towards Iliasport and hit the road.

Unbeknownst to the courier, a certain harpy was looking as he walked away, a small smile on her face. "I hope we meet again, stranger," Queen Harpy said as she watched the man walk away.

A small note at the end. Is anyone interested in pre-reading? I would like to know, if I am doing it right.

PS: Don't expect updates too frequently, I had a bit of time this week, so I managed to write a bit more.

PPS: And I am sorry, but this chapter is boring. I really think Harpy Village could have been handled better. However, I have got no clue, what else I could do.


	4. Chapter 3

As the courier walked down the road, grass of fields all around him, he suddenly heard an odd sound coming closer and drew his set of golden gloves. In his sight came a Leech Girl. She had an upper body of a female, and a lower part of leech, with many, many tentacles in its' mouth. Courier also noticed, it was big enough to hold a human male inside of it.

"...A traveller? Unbaptised, too… You look delicious. I'll suck everything out of you… Your whole body wrapped in my mouth, I'll leech everything out of you."

"… That's it. That's where I won't even hold back any longer. Your whole goal is to suck me dry and any other men you come across, which will in turn kill me and you expect me to just let you do that?! Fuck that shit!" Courier declared, put the gloves back in his coat, put his hand on a pistol, before he frowned and snipped out one of his spears instead. He then aimed at the monster and threw the weapon with his entire might.

The spear was sent flying towards the monster girl, before the she could react. The spear hit its' mark and the Leech Girl's head blew up into dozens of pieces, showering the area and painting the grass red with her blood, while the spear itself got stuck in ground nearby the monster. The rest of monster's body, fell onto the ground twitching for a few seconds before it stopped. The courier then checked what remained of the corpse, took some thin red paste out of it and his spear out of the ground before he once again hit the road. _That was quite dumb, now that I think of it. If anyone else has seen of the pistols, then it could be problematic. I also can't get ammo anywhere in this world, so it would be wasteful to use it like this. All right then, I will just use Blade of the East next time_.

The courier shook his head as he made his way towards Iliasport. As he was walking he pulled out a big bumper sword from his coat and placed it on his back, which attached itself to its' body through some sort of trick. He had no idea how it worked, but he was grateful for not being forced to carry a holster for it, or any other weapon.

As he made his way, he noticed a forest unlike the one, he had seen previously. It looked tropical in origin and the temperature was higher than in previous areas. It was also much more humid. As the courier walked through he suddenly heard a rustle, stopped dead in his tracks, drew the sword and turned towards the source of it. Out of the forest came a monster, that looked like one of those tropical plants he found in the books, only ten times larger and with two female torsos inside of it.

"Perfect... It's time for me to be pollinated... Hey... Will you mate with me? Spread your seed all over my pistil... It won't be difficult... Just leave everything to me. I'll make you feel so good, all you need to do is ejaculate. I'll fulfil all your desires... Aren't you lucky?" Rafflesia Girl said.

"If I was lucky, I wouldn't have come across you in the first place..." Courier muttered to himself before he turned his head towards the monster and said louder than before, "Sorry, but I don't want to be turned into fertilizer of a monster as ugly as you."

"Then I'll just need to force you!" the monster declared as she entered the combat stance. In the meantime, the courier was lost in thoughts. _Hmm... Should I kill basically any monster I come across? I mean if I don't then they will find another traveller and turn him into a semen slave, toy or a food source... Then again not all the monsters are like this, for example harpies... Okay, I get it. If a man can marry a monster and is not treated like crap, then I will let the monster live. However, monsters like her? They will have to die._

With his mind made up, the courier charged the monster and swung his sword with his entire might. The sword hit the monster, sending her crashing into the nearest tree. She gasped for air, but before she could react a blade was already at her. The attack hit its' mark and the monster was knocked on the ground, blood dripping from her wounds. Courier rose his weapon but stopped as a he remembered other monsters he came across. _Then again, there was a Bee Girl, some are desperate, some just need men to make sure their kind survives. And who knows? Maybe, this monster can produce some sort of amazing medicine? Gah... I really have no choice, do I?_ The courier shook his head, put his sword on his back, drew his set of golden gloves and hit a monster a couple of times, knocking her unconscious. He then turned north and started walking.

Just as courier was getting closer to the end of the forest, another monster appeared. "A Roper, huh?" He read about this monster in the books in Iliasville. It was known for weakening their prey by squeezing or ejaculation, then they melted their prey and ate them. _Yeah, this one dies, no doubt about it._

"It's been a long time since I last had a delicious treat..." Roper Girl said as she licked her lips.

"I am going to enjoy seeing you bleed," Courier growled before he drew his sword and charged the monster, who was paralysed from fear as she heard the words. Before she could react the courier hit her hard enough and sent the monster flying and knocking her to the ground. Before she could stand up the courier smashed her again, and again and after a couple of strikes the monster exploded into the fountain of blood and guts, which avoided the man's clothing for whatever reason. The courier then cleaned his sword using one of the many leaves scattered around, before he once again hit the road.

It took him a couple of hours before he noticed the town located at the coast. It was surrounded by big white walls, and a couple of towers. At the sight of it, he increased his pace and soon enough he was inside of the town. He looked around and to his surprise it looked empty, almost deserted. _That's odd, I expected there would be stores lining the streets, with merchants hawking their wares to all potential clients..._ The courier shook his head and walked up to the nearest person he came across. "Excuse me, sir. I would to know, whether there is something wrong happening in this port? It looks deserted."

"Of course it's deserted. Since last year, nobody has made a round trip to the Sentora continent."

"A whole year? Did something block the trade route, by any chance?"

"There's a horrible storm. Every time a ship leaves the coast, it's hit by a huge storm."

"A storm...? You don't mean that it always starts storming as soon as they leave, do you?"

"Yes, every time. No matter how clear it looks, as soon as a ship sets out it starts storming. As the rumours go, it's the work of monsters. They're harassing us or something, I don't really know."

"Hmm... That does make sense. I mean, without any way to reach Ilias Temple the pilgrims are stuck on the other continent. Thank you for your time, have a nice day." Courier said as he left as he began wandering around the town. "What should I do? I mean I could try to swim through, buy it would take too long. So that means I have to get to the one responsible for the storm or find an alternative way to cross the sea. But how am I supposed to do that?"

"There's a way, my Hero!" Unfortunate Lamia said as she appeared out of nowhere.

"What the...? I thought you lived in Iliasburg."

"I am Amira, a snake that travels. In short, a Snavel. I follow my darling, and sometimes go ahead to welcome him."

"I see... Well then." The courier then turned around but before he could go, Amira stopped him.

"Wait, darling! I'm not just an annoying character. For my darling, I collected information from the "sort of" illegal information shop."

"Is that so? Then, can I please hear it?"

"For my darling, I'll tell him anything. My three sizes, from above, are two hundred seventy five, seventy eight, ninety three."

"No offence, Amira, but I would rather hear about the way I can reach the other side. Do you know a way to get to the Sentora continent?"

"From what I've gathered... If you go out of the town and head east a ways, you will come across a cave. In there lies the treasure of the legendary pirate Captain Selene."

"Captain Selene? That captain Selene? The one legendary pirate, who travelled all over the seas? I thought it was more of a legend than anything else," Courier said as he remembered reading about the Captain Selene, back in Iliasville.

"Not really, in that treasure trove seems to be the legendary Poseidon's Bell. Carrying that bell, no matter how the sea rages, the ship won't sink."

"Well, every legend has a bit of truth in it. Still, relying on a magical bell, seems like a huge gamble. That said, I don't think there is much of a choice."

"But the cave is a monster's den... Many adventures have attempted to claim Selene's treasure... Most that went looking never returned... Kyaa! Amira is scared!"

"You are scared? I am the one that has to go there to get the damn thing! I should be the one panicking! Still, thank you, Amira. That helped me a lot," Courier said and smiled lightly.

"Don't mention it, darling. Now then, Amira's happy information session ends here, I shall now leave with the breeze... By the way, I don't have any H-Scenes. I'm sorry to all of you Lamia lovers."

"Thank go... Urgh, I mean, I am sorry to hear that," Courier said as he watched Amira quickly crawling away. Courier shook his head before he headed out of the city and went east, towards the treasure cave. _Now that I think about it, I could simply sneak by past all those monsters I have fought previously. That would make it much easier, and then I could simply sneak attack critical the ones that kill people. Now that's a good plan! Let's do this!_ The courier then crouched and walked this way through the night, until he reached the entrance to the cave.

It was pretty average, basically a hole in the ground, nothing remarkable about it. However, once the courier went inside he raised his eyebrows as he looked at the walls and the floor, which looked pretty sturdy and used many times. _Wait a second, if they hid all the treasures here, then there surely are traps here. Light Steep, I love you! It helped me so much during the Madre, I can't even imagine not having it anymore. It is just so good._ As the courier thought about it, he suddenly stopped, looked around and bit his lip. "That's odd... If so many people came in here without coming out, where are all of the corpses? Were they eaten by the monsters?" He then shook his head and sneaked deeper into the cave.

Along the way he noticed many, many traps that were waiting just to be triggered. He had a half mind to just do that, but it would most likely cause a commotion, so he decided not to. He was getting closer, when suddenly he noticed a signature on his compass. He stopped in his track, turned on the stealth field and let the monster levitate past him without noticing. It was odd, to say the least. She had an upper body of a female, but her lower part looked like part insect part stone. _Hmm... should I kill her? I mean, she is one of the monsters that suck people dry... but then again, she lives in this cave, so its' her natural habitat. Unless people come here, she shouldn't attack them. Live and let live, I guess?_

As the courier sneaked around the corner, he noticed a girl with fox ears, two tails and white fur. She was struggling in huge cobweb, that held her in place. Suddenly, the owner of the cobweb appeared in front of the courier. She looked like someone took a spider body and put an upper half of a female torso on it. He watched as a sadistic grin appeared on the face of the spider girl and he could feel his fists clutching. _Getting involved caused a lot of trouble back where I came from, and it is something I should avoid. However, this monster is a predator that eats people and monsters alike. Still, predators have to hunt, because it's a part of their DNA and nature. I can't kill predators because of that. That said, nobody said I can't knock her unconscious and teach her a lesson or two._ The courier stood up turned off the stealth field and then began running faster and faster towards the spider girl. She was about to wrap her prey when she turned towards the man only to receive a punch to the face from the golden glove and was sent flying into her own web, which in turned wrapped around her. Before she could react the courier punched her a few more times, knocking her unconscious. After that he put a couple of Big-Horner steaks on a plate next to the spider girl and then turned towards the Kitsune who was looking at him with a surprised look on her face. He walked up to the monster, cut off the cobweb and then punched the girl knocking her unconscious. After that he quickly put her on his shoulder and ran past the spider. Once he was a couple hundred feet away, he stopped and dropped her to the ground, far enough from the monster. He then made sure nobody was coming before he went deeper into the cave.

The courier made his way through the cave, when he suddenly came onto a small room, with a lone chest sitting in the middle. _Why do I have a feeling that it's nothing more but a trap? I mean, unless someone opens a suspicious chests like this it should be fine. I think I will just ignore it._ The courier then walked past the suspicious chest, without opening it. Shortly after that, he came across huge steel door, that looked like nobody touched them for decades. He walked up to the door, snipped out a lock pick and a screwdriver and began fiddling around. After a couple of seconds, the lock clicked and then the courier pushed the door with his strength and made his way into the room. He then closed the door behind him and looked around the room.

The courier whistled under his breath as he took a good look at his surroundings. He could see dozens of chests, with gold, treasures and valuable equipment all around him. He then grinned, rubbed his hands and got down to work. He took everything, including an old bell and he could feel himself getting over-encumbered from the sheer weight alone. After a bit of looking down his inventory, he found what he was looking for and after a few seconds he could feel his body going back to the original weight. Another perk of being a courier, and seeing a lots of different things. Just as he was about to leave he heard a voice coming from the other side of the door.

"Wait here, Nanabi and don't let anyone go inside. Can you do that for me?" asked a voice, which sounded like a pre-teenage girl.

"I will do as you say, Tamomo-san," answered the other voice, which sounded much more mature. In the meantime a cold sweat appeared on Courier's forehead as he understood what was about to happen. One of the monsters was going to enter the treasury and then see him and this whole place empty. It didn't take a genius or two to connect the dots. He quickly turned on the stealth field, fell on his knees, quickly made his way into the corner of the room and crouched behind one of the chests as he watched the door open.

In them stood a lone young kitsune, around four feet tall, with bright fur, a pair of green eyes, two fox ears and nine tails. _Wait, nine tails? That previous kitsune had two and was pretty weak, just how much stronger is this girl?_ The courier focused his sight on the monster girl and activated the AR scanner, located in his head. He watched as the device scanned the girl before the results appeared. _Let's see, threat level: Extreme. Awareness: Extreme. Combat Range: Melee. Disposition: Neutral. Hit Points: Twenty Two Thousand. Damage Threshold: Zero. Well then, I guess I am fucked!_ The girl's eyes went wide open as she looked around, when suddenly she started sniffing the air and turned right where the courier was hiding. She then closed the door behind her, smiled and said, "I know you are there. Come out."

The courier cursed under his breath, turned off the stealth field and stood up from his cover. He smiled and said, "Oh, hello there. Can I help you somehow?"

"Yes, you can. I have got a couple of questions, I would like to ask you."

"I see, well then, what would you like to know?"

"First of all, how did you get in here without setting off a single trap?"

"Well, I am a bit of a thief, so I know where to look. It is much safer to avoid the traps than activate them and lure all the monsters towards me, you know?"

"I see, and where did all the gold, the Poseidon's Bell and basically everything else go?"

"I don't know, it was already empty before I got here."

"You are lying," She declared, her smile not waning for a second. A shiver went down courier's spine as he realized he was in a real trouble right now. "There is only your smell here and even then the traps were untouched. Not to mention, noone else managed to come anywhere near close to this place."

"Heh, so you have noticed? Well, I guess I underestimated you. You are pretty clever, props to you. So, how about we talk this through on a cup of tea? How does this sound?"

"Hmm... First take off your glasses, that mask and that hat," Tamamo said, while the courier complied. The man had a fairly long dark hair, green eyes and a huge vertical scar that started in the middle of the man's left eyebrow and went down to bottom of his face. The kitsune looked at courier's face, smiled brightly and said, "You are cute, I like you! You'd be a good mate. I want to play with someone cute like you on my bed..."

"Me? Cute? That's … unexpected? Well, I wouldn't be against such a thing, but I am afraid I have other stuff to take care, so how about you just let me go? How does that sound?"

"Hmm... well, I came here to have fun with all the traps but the bell would be nice to have. Still, I don't need it, so you can keep it. But, I do have a couple questions, I want you to answer. If you do it truthfully, I will let you go."

"I don't have a choice, do I? Well, ask away."

"So, what's your name? How old are you? And where do you come from?"

"My name is Abraham Drake, I am twenty one years old, and I come from Mojave Wasteland."

"You are only twenty one years old? You look older than that you know? What bothers me more is a place called Mojave Wasteland. I have never heard of it, so can you tell me where it is?"

"Well, to put it simply. It's a really long story and I doubt you would believe me."

"Hmm... Okay then. Another question, how do you do that?"

"Do what?" Courier asked as he raised his eyebrow.

"Hide your presence like this. I can hardly smell you, not to mention the fact that you have little to no presence even right now."

"Well, they didn't call me a ninja for nothing I guess. I know I am good at being stealthy, but I had no clue I had low presence," the man admitted and shrugged.

"You didn't know? Well, then I gave you a bit of an edge, didn't?" Tamamo said and then laughed softly, while the courier shook his head and smiled. "Are you sure, you don't want to be my lover? It would be great, I assure you," She said seductively as she looked at the courier.

"Too... cute, must resist... the temptation! Gah, you are making it really hard to decline. However, I will have to turn down your kind offer this time. I want to see more of this world, and I hope you don't mind that."

"I can understand that. However, the offer is still up. Now then, shall we go out?" Tamamo asked when suddenly she heard Nanabi's voice coming from outside.

"Kuh...Impossible! It's as if he's entirely different person! In that case... how about this?! What the hell...?! What's with that power?! If I get hit by that...! Take this! My ultimate attack! Impossible... This..."

"Oh it seems like Nanabi was sealed, intriguing."

"Nanabi? Who's that?"

"She's my aide, and helps me out a lot. I never expected her to lose to a human. Well then, shall we greet the one who defeated her?" Tamamo asked and opened the door. The Kitsune went through the door, with the courier following her to see an unlikely pair.

It was the same boy, who helped him out a couple weeks ago and a blue skinned Lamia, who was attractive in her own right. She had a pair of horns, purple skin, long silver hair, yellow eyes, a big tattoo on her left side and a little in terms of clothing. There was also a small yellow fox, sitting in front of the door. In the meantime the Courier stayed a couple meters away from Tamamo when he noticed the same Kitsune he saved from a spider hide behind the Tamamo as soon as she came out. He raised his eyebrow but didn't say anything, instead he focused on the duo in front of him. He looked at the Lamia and activated his AR scanner, before the result displayed itself in his fake eye. _... I don't believe this. Threat Level: Extreme. This means that are two monsters here that can wipe floor with both of us, without breaking a sweat. What are the odds?_

"She looks weaker than Nanabi..." The boy muttered.

"Idiot. Look at her tails," The Lamia said.

"One, two, three... Nine?! But it's only two more than Nanabi..."

"... Idiot. Seven tails isn't even comparable with nine. She's one of the Four Heavenly Knights: Tamamo. One of the top monsters, like Granberia. "

"W...What?!"

"Sorry, Nanabi. You became like that as I moved onto the treasury. It will take me a little longer to return you, I'll have to do it later," Tamamo said, while the fox bowed down before Tamamo's feet.

Finally, Tamamo turned to face the boy, named Luka. "Hum... So you're Luka? Defeating Nanabi... You must have some skill." Then Tamomo slowly walked around Luka, sniffing the air. "So cute! You'd be a good mate!" Tamamo declared with a happy smile. _Wait, she's ready to just take him over me? That's cruel..._

"No way!" The boy said and took a step back.

"Fufu... You're a good guy. I want to play with someone cute like you on my bed... or as cute as Drake," She said, while giving the courier a glance.

"..." The boy shook his head and then turned towards the courier, who left the treasury and stood a couple feet away from Tamamo, with a bell in his hand. "No way... Is that...?"

"Indeed, this is the Poseidon's Bell. Crossing over to Sentora is annoying, so I decided to take it," courier answered.

"I wanted to take it, myself, but Drake here got here before me. Honestly, it didn't really matter to me. But Alma Elma is so annoying..." Tamamo added.

"Alma Elma...?" Luka asked as he glanced at Lamia.

"She's one of the Four Heavenly Knights as well, causing a storm that blocks the route."

"Do the Four Heavenly Knights have a reason to block the route...?"

"Saying that... If you want this bell, what are you going to do?" Tamamo asked.

"Uhm... Defeat you and your companion and take it, I guess?" Luka said and moved his hand to unsheathe his sword, when suddenly Lamia grabbed his wrist.

"...Stop. She isn't someone you can face right now."

"But..."

Watching the duo, Tamamo started to laugh. "Haha, that's surprising... That human caught your interest, Monster Lord?"

Luka's eyes went wide open as he turned towards his companion and muttered, "Alice... You..."

"...Did you finally realize it, you idiot? I am the Monster Lord, Alipheese the sixteenth," Alice declared a bit annoyed. In the meantime courier just stared at the duo, and was trying to come out with a plan in case something goes wrong.

"No way!" Luka shouted as he took a step back.

"Oops... Was I not supposed to say that? I spoke out of place... Anyway, I'll be taking the Drake and the bell." Tamamo said, before she gave the courier a wink. Seeing this, he smiled and nodded. "Hmm?" The small Kitsune pulled at Tamamo's sleeve, while glancing at the courier.

"What...? Hmmhmm... I see...I see. So you saved her life, Drake? Then, as the leader of the Kitsune's, I must thank you," Tamamo laughed softly as she walked up to the courier. "How do you want me to thank you? Delicious thin fried tofu? Or do you want to touch my special fluffy tail?"

"I can touch the fluffy tail and not get raped or eaten or sucked dry? And by a beautiful girl? Hell yes, I will take it!" The courier said and grinned.

"Wait! Don't do that!" Luka yelled, while courier turned towards him.

"Why not? Is there something wrong with touching the fluffy tail?"

"Of course there is! Ilias commandments forbid any intercourse with monsters!"

"Oh, definitely. But you see, I am not breaking it, I am touching the fluffy tail. That is not the same. See? There is no problem," Courier said and turned towards the Tamamo, who pushed her tail towards him. He reached out and stroked the tail, which felt amazing. Stroking her fur, he could feel a soft core inside. It felt like he was touching the most comfortable material in his entire life, and he was craving for more.

"Well? Isn't it amazing?"

"It is so damn good, where where you my entire life?" Courier asked as he buried his face in her fur. "It feels so good! Totally worth it."

"Fufu... I'll give you a special," Tamamo said before one of her tails rushed towards courier trousers. In an instinct, he cut all of the pleasure as soon as he noticed that. He let Tamamo caress his intimate places, but didn't smile or say anything. She looked back at him with a puzzled look and asked, "Why didn't it work?"

"Well, I kind of got hurt quite a bit during my life and well I don't get aroused by anything like this. How about you give me a hug with your tails instead?"

"Well, I wanted to give something special. But if this is what you want," She said before the courier pulled up his trousers and felt as the soft, fluffy tails caressed him all around before she suddenly stopped and said, "There you go. Happy?"

"Happiest I have been for the last half a year, thank you, Miss Tamamo," Courier answered as he bowed slightly.

"Glad to hear it," Tamamo laughed softly before she turned towards Luka. "Now, what are you going to do, Luka? Are you going to try to defeat me?" Tamamo asked as she waved her tails around.

"...There's no reason to fight. I'll only fight those who try to stop monsters and humans from coexisting."

"Hmm... An admirable endeavour. However, we will fight eventually. After all, I am one of the Monster Lord's Four Heavenly Knights."

"...If it happens, it will happen."

"Well then... Farewell," Tamamo said before her and the other two kitsunes vanished, leaving the man alone. The courier looked at the spot, where she was standing just seconds ago, and remembered the sensation, while a smile grew on his face.

He then turned towards the duo and said, "Don't mind me, I am just a spectator. Discuss all your stuff and act like I am not here. And don't worry I will give you the bell, after all this." He then leaned against the wall, and noticed they only gave him a glance before they focused on each other.

"...So Alice, you're the Monster Lord...?"

"...I didn't hide it. You were just too big of an idiot to realize it."

"Looking back on it, it was pretty stupid not to notice..."

"You should have noticed it when Granberia followed my orders. Isn't the only person who can give an order to the Four Heavenly Knights the Monster Lord?"

"Why... Did you travel with me?"

"My answer is the same as before. You're an interesting human. In addition, I want to see the world with my own eyes. Travelling with you satisfied both of my interests."

"Did you really order an all-out war with humans?"

"Only in self-defence are you allowed to exert power. That was my only command to the monsters. It must have gotten distorted when it reached human ears. I don't want a full-scale war."

"Exert power not to rule humans, but only in self defence...? But then why was Granberia attacking Iliasburg?!"

"With the Slaughter of Remina, the humans were burning with hatred toward the nearby monsters, with a dangerous situation brewing. Violence was only approved for self-defence purposes. But... A lot of monsters seem to have taken a more liberal interpretation of what I meant. An inexcusable act."

"What the hell happened, then! Wasn't it the Monster Lord's command to not leave a single survivor?!"

"I don't know. Trying to find the truth of that situation is another reason for my journey."

"Eh? You don't know...? If you don't know... Was it just the decision of the monsters?"

"The Slaughter of Remina took place before I took the throne. However, the previous Monster Lord did not give instruction to attack that town, either. I still do not know who gave the command for that. But the most mysterious part... Even the monsters that were living with the humans were slaughtered."

Courier frowned as he heard that particular bit of information. _Wait a second, both sides were killed back then? If what she said is truth, then this begs a question, who caused that? Let's think for a second, who would benefit from both sides being killed during that time? The Monster Lord wants peace and so the humanity as far I am aware. So, who is the one, that hates monsters and would do anything to make sure the monsters are exterminated and the trust is broken? That's right, Ilias... She's she most suspicious of all things. Her commandments are the reason monsters have to attack the man in the first place and it would make sense to have both sides blame each other. That or some rogue and powerful monster could destroy the town, but then why would she kill all the fellow monsters? I lack the evidence of this theory, but so far it seems like Ilias is the most plausible suspect. I will have to check this whole Remina one day._

"Even the monsters were killed...?"

"Well, that's the end of that talk. What are you going to do now, Luka? The opponent you have to beat is right in front of you," Alice said, while the courier quickly picked up a rock from the floor and aimed at Luka as he waited for his response.

"Don't joke around. What would you have done, if I challenged you? I don't stand a chance right now. Besides, if you vanished right now wouldn't the monsters just all be confused?"

"Hmm... They might. I want them to obey my orders... But I still get the wishy-washy ones like Granberia and Alma Elma."

"So the person causing the storm between the continents was Alma Elma herself, and not your order?"

"But you know... Granberia has always insisted that the Ilias Temple is the ringleader of evil. It's a Hero manufacturing facility that churns out Heroes to fight monsters. She argues that destroying it is self-defence. As a theory it's... not too far off the mark. The people who call themselves Heroes are pretty unsightly. But is it okay? Not fighting me."

"I've told you many times already, Alice. I only fight monsters who get in the way of humans and monsters coexisting. But... Aiming at the Monster Lord's castle is still my aim. It also looks like the Four Heavenly Knights are going wild doing their own thing."

"I can understand their viewpoints...Therefore I usually leave them alone. I have my own viewpoint as the Monster Lord... All monsters are my cute subordinates. No matter what you say, I won't lend a hand to defeat my own cute little subordinates. You understand, right?"

"So, this is how it works, huh?" Courier asked as he pushed himself off the wall and walked up to the duo. "No offence, Miss Monster Lord, but there is a bit of problem with what you said so far."

"And that is?"

"Some of your "Cute Little Subordinates" are nothing more but murders that make humans despise the rest of the monsters even more. Let's take for an example a Roper Girl that attacked travellers on their way to Iliasport. If you let her eat people, then it's obvious coexistence is not going to work. Who in their right mind, would want to get eaten when they are trying to make their living? What do you intend to do about them?"

"That's... a good point," Alice said lost in thoughts for a few seconds. "It's true the monsters like these exists, but I can't be everywhere to control them. I want them to obey my orders, but I can only be in one place at a time."

"I am aware of this fact. So, how about all the monsters that eat people or suck them dry will be killed?"

"Are you nuts?! Do you want to kill entire species because of a few degenerates?!" Alice snapped as she glared at the courier.

"Hold your horses, lady. I never said anything like this. To put it simply, let's say there is twenty Ropers in an area. Ten of those Ropers survive on their own and only use man to keep up their population and release them after the intercourse or treat them as husbands. Five of those Ropers will keep the man as semen slaves or toys. And the last five will eat them. All I want is to kill the five Ropers that eat people and the ones that keep them as slaves have to be punished. The rest can continue living their lives, as they don't cause trouble for the humanity. Basically remove a harmful behaviour from their DNA. How does that sound?"

"... That's... a more reasonable solution," Alice said as she contemplated the idea. "However, wouldn't it be more better to just punish the ones that cause troubles, instead of killing them with cold blood?"

"Well, that's a possibility. However, I would like to point out some flaws in this way of thinking. As far as I am aware the monsters and humans have inhabited this planet for at least five hundred years. During that time there were a few more Monster Lords that ruled over them, as you are the sixteenth Monster Lord. Then why has nothing changed during all this time? Why didn't monster simply take over humanity and turn them into their slaves, if they are much stronger than them? Why didn't humanity develop safe roads and patrols? Why are the monsters still preying on humans, if it only makes both sides suffer even further? If humans hate monsters, they will stay away from them and then the monsters will have to attack the towns to ensure their species don't die out. When that happens people will grow to hate them even further and the whole idea of existence will be nothing more but a dream. Basically the way I see it, both humanity and monsters are pretty much full of idiots and I can not for the live of me understand, how come are things the way the are. Can you answer that question, oh great Monster Lord?" Courier asked with a hint of sarcasm as he looked at Alice.

Both her and Luka were just starring at the courier with their eyes spread wide open as they tried to contemplate everything that was said to them seconds ago. They were lost in their thoughts for a while, before Alice started, "I... am not sure, myself. Everything you said was accurate and I do not know it myself..."

"I figured as much, well no point thinking about it right now. I just have to accept it and move on, I guess. In any case, I think we should go and take the nearest ship to Sentora, after that we will see what to do."

"Wait, you are going with us?" Luka asked as he looked at the courier with a surprised look on his face.

"Of course, I am going with you. I told you I would give you the bell and I keep my word. That said, I want to travel to Sentora and you are going that way yourself, so we could travel together for the time being. Heck, I think you could use a second fighter, don't you think, Luka?"

"Well, I guess. But I will not let you kill a single monster! I want a world where both sides can coexist peacefully!" Luka declared as he gave the courier a glare, while the man just looked at the boy with a deadpan expression.

"Really? You are going to let all the monsters live? Even the ones, that are straight out evil? Well, do whatever you want. Just don't get surprised if it comes back, biting you in the ass. In any event, If this is how you want it, then don't expect me to help you too often."

"But, you have said you would help me fight the monsters? Why are you not going to do it any longer?"

"Because I am good at killing things, but not so good at … what did you actually do to that Monster? Why was she turned into the fox?"

"Oh, that's because of this," Luka said as he showed his sword to the courier. It was one of the most disgusting, evil looking swords courier has ever seen. It had a sick silver colour, one big eye, surrounded by four smaller eyes on the blade. It also had a silver ring where the tip should have been. It looked like someone took angels and turned them into this sword while they were screaming in agony.

"What the hell is this sword? And what does it do?"

"It's called Angel Halo and it seals away the monsters, without killing them. Thus making them harmless."

"Oh, I see. That explains what happened to that Nanabi monster. Well, I suppose I can help you out a bit, but you are the one that will have to do the most fighting."

"Why don't you want to help me fight the monsters?"

"One, I don't have a sword like this. Two, the monsters will only recognize you if you prove to them that you are stronger than them, so you have to become stronger and that requires getting combat experience. And lastly, I am only going to help you in dire situations and even then not all the time. I don't want you think for even a second that you can rely on someone to save your ass, otherwise you will not fight for you live during every encounter. Does it make sense to you?"

"I... guess. Okay then! I don't need your or Alice's help! I will become stronger and make my dream come true!"

"That's the spirit. Now that we go that out of the way, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Abraham Drake, but most people refer to me as courier six. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Courier said and gave Luka his hand.

The boy smiled, shook the hand and said, "My name is Luka, a Hero Apprentice and I am glad to meet you today."

"You already know, who I am. So, there's no need for introduction, is there?" Alice asked as she glanced at the courier.

"I suppose, if this is how you see it. Still, I a pleasure meeting you, Alipheese the Sixteenth."

"Likewise, but call me Alice from now on. I don't want others to be suspicious."

"Very well, if this is what you want. Now then, shall we go?" Courier asked with a smile and the trio left the cave and turned towards Iliasport and made their way towards the city.

Chapter End

PS: So, anyone else thinks Tamamo is the best of the Four Heavenly Knights? I think she is second best monster in entire MGQ, just behind Alice. Well, I hope you enjoyed it and hopefully I will have some time to write a bit more.

See you in the next chapter.

PPS: If someone notices a plot hole or something, give me a sing. I will try to fix it.


	5. Chapter 4

Once the trio managed to find a way out of the treasure cave they began their journey towards the Iliasport. Thankfully the journey was spent in the relative silence, with Alice and Luka exchanging some small talk here and there. Once the night got close, the trio decided to set up camp.

The courier was the one who made a fireplace, while Luka set up his tent and then began making a meal for both Alice and him. He turned towards the courier and asked, "Aren't you hungry?"

"Not really and even if I was I don't need a fireplace for that, most of the time," Courier answered as he sat close nearby the fireplace and watched the flames flicker.

"I see... You are not really good at being with people, are you?" Luka asked, while the courier snorted.

"You could say that," The courier answered before he continued, "Truth to be told, I have never been good with spending time with people. I can help them with their problems, show them errors of their ways, but all the people that I managed to befriend now hate me, so whatever."

"I... am sorry to hear that, I didn't mean to... Will you... tell us what happened?" Luka asked.

"It's a long story, and one that I am not comfortable with. No offence, but I don't want to talk about it and I would appreciate if you didn't ask about it. Is that all right with both of you?"

"It doesn't feel right to me. How can I trust you, if you don't want to share a part of your past with us? Do you expect us to trust you blindly?" Alice questioned with a suspicious glance.

"Can you read thoughts, Alice?" Courier asked as he turned towards the Monster Lord.

"Why do you ask?" Alice countered.

"Because If I wanted to explain to you, why do they hate me I would have to write a book or spend at least a few hours explaining it. At least mind reading would make it faster."

"...That definitely would be a bit wasteful. In that case, I want to know whether you were involved with the Four Bandits and Happiness Village?"

"Oh yeah, I helped with both of these things, so?" Courier answered as he glanced at the Monter Lord.

"You did?" Luka asked, clearly surprised. "I mean the villagers told us about oddly looking traveller, who help them out with the harpies. And the bandits told us that he was a kind, but scary person in a long coat. That was you?"

"Pretty much. So, what about it?"

"I see, that explains some of the things we came across," Alice said as she turned towards the courier. "I wanted to know, if you were involved because there was something that bothered me for a while. If you are the one, who helped out with those two things, then it would make sense to go this way. When we went down the path, we came across a corpse of a Leech Girl and a Roper Girl, which looked pretty fresh. My question is, are you the one, who killed them?" Alice asked as she eyed the courier.

"Yes, I did. And what are you going to do about it?" Courier asked, while the duo glared at each other. He could see as Alice tail waved around as she glared at him, before she sighed and stopped.

"I expected that answer, after what you told me. That doesn't mean it was right to kill them, do you understand it?" Alice asked clearly angry.

"Yes, I do. I am sorry I didn't have an awesome sealing blade at the time, when I had to fight for my life. Is there anything else you want?"

"I have got a question," Luka said, while the duo turned towards him. "Why didn't you knock them unconscious or something?"

"Well to put it simply, I wasn't sure what was I supposed to do. I mean harpies were not evil, just misguided. Four bandits had to steal, due to their circumstances. However, those two monsters preyed on men. It only worsens the situations for both monsters and humans as I have already told you. So, at the time I thought it was a right thing to do."

"How can it be a right thing to kill others?!" Alice asked, clearly angry as she glared at the man.

"If you live in an area like mine you get used to killing on a daily basis. You don't know anything about me, both of you. You have got no clue how lucky you are, compared to where I come from. Sure there are evil monsters and such, but compared to mine? It is heaven. So, don't you dare judge me, because you have got no right to say to me, what is right, what is wrong. Do I make myself clear?" Courier asked visibly annoyed.

"I… am sorry. I didn't mean it like this…" Luka muttered.

"Ech… No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have jumped at you like this. I want to help people, but when I tried, I failed miserably. I don't want to kill others, unless I don't have a choice. Sometimes, though… Sometimes, I don't have a choice. And when that happens you care about your life first and foremost…" The man shook his head before he turned towards the fake hero, "The way you act, Luka. It confuses me, it makes me want to laugh at you. But, at the same time, when I look at you, I see a part of myself. Not the one sitting in front of you, but a different courier. One with ideals and dreams, that weren't that different from yours. One that wanted to help others because he could… Now, though? Heh, I am not sure myself," Courier admitted as he stared into the sky.

"...Drake, I want to ask you a question. Will you try to kill monsters ever again?" Alice asked as she looked at the man.

He returned the gaze and smiled lightly, "I hope not, I don't want to get killed by you." He chuckled before he continued, "I have thought about this as well, Alice. I want to help both sides, but killing will not help most of the time. That's why I have decided to leave this judgement to you. If you find a monster that should die, I will react accordingly. However, I will not kill any more monsters unless it's absolutely necessary. Is that all right, with you?"

"Hrm… That does sound acceptable. Very well, I accept your proposal. That said, I will not let you do that too often, understood?" Alice asked, still unhappy but no longer angry.

"Understood, now then let's go to sleep. I will take the watch today, so you can sleep peacefully this time," Courier answered and after a few minutes the Lamia and Hero Apprentice were fast asleep.

It took the trio a couple more hours, but they have finally arrived at Iliasport around the noon. However, before they entered the town Alice changed her form into that of a human, while Courier just stared at her.

"Why are you staring at me like this?"

"I would like to apologize, it wasn't my intention. I am simply surprised that you can change into human form just like that. I didn't expect that."

"I see, by the way during your time with fluffy tail I have noticed something that I have never seen before. Why didn't you react at all when she caressed your...?" Alice asked.

"Oh, that's simple, really. I have been through a lot during my life and because of that I gained some things and lost some things. Basically now I can only feel pain, pleasure and such only if I allow them to. For the rest of the time, they reach my brain as nothing more but titbits of information. It allows me to focus on the combat, without being distracted."

"How can you do that?" Luka asked

"Well, I lost my original spine, and this is one of the benefits," the man answered and shrugged.

"What...?" Alice shoot him a deadpan look.

"Here, let me show you," Courier said as he rummaged through his coat, before he pulled out a human spine and showed it to the duo. Both the Monster Lord and Hero Apprentice jumped back in surprise as they stared at the part of the body in front of them, which was dripping some weird fluid. Seeing their reaction the courier hid the spine and asked, "Well, do you believe me now?"

"What the hell is wrong with your body?!" Alice asked, clearly shocked.

"Too much too count, I told you I have been through a lot of things. This is one of the consequences."

"I see, I didn't know the humanity was advanced enough to do such a thing..." Alice muttered.

"Well, that's not exactly accurate. I don't believe anyone in this world is capable of replacing a spine or anything like this," Courier said and stretched a bit.

"You make it sound, like you are not from this world, you know?" Luka asked as he glanced at the courier.

"I do? Well, I guess it sounds like it. What if I told that I am from different world where things such as monster girls or magic don't exist, what would you say about it?"

"I would call it a fake, but I am not sure any longer," Luka answered.

"And let's keep it at that. Trust me, you don't what to hear about it. Well then, let's go," Courier said and entered the city, while the duo followed him. Alice gave him a suspicious glance, but didn't say anything.

"This will be my first time leaving the continent..." Luka said as the trio walked down the path.

"It's also the first time I'll step foot on the Sentora continent. I've passed over it in the sky a few times, though," Alice said as she looked around.

"I thought you only set out on your journey a few days ago?" Luka asked as he glanced at Alice.

"That's right. After I left the castle I flew right to the Ilias Temple. That's how I met you."

"What a freak accident..." Luka muttered.

"It doesn't sound like an accident to me," Courier said, while the duo turned their attention towards the man. "I mean it sounds like the two of you were meant to meet. I find it really odd that a Hero Apprentice, who wants coexistence and a Monster Lord meet the same day. The chance of something like this is extremely small, not to mention. If it wasn't Luka, someone else might have met Alice. Then things could have turned differently. I know it's probably me just rambling, but I don't believe in coincidence too much." The duo looked at each other and nodded in contemplation as they lost themselves in their thoughts. After a while, the trio arrived at the harbour. The courier looked around and noticed a man that looked like a captain and walked up to him. "Excuse me, sir. We'd like to take a ship to the Sentora continent."

"Hah! You must be joking, good sir. You know what happens to any ship that leaves here, right?"

"If we hang this Poseidon's Bell from the bow, it should be all right," Courier said as he pulled out the bell from his coat.

"...Don't be ridiculous. If such a dirty bell would let me avoid storms, I'd be rich."

"I expected you to say that, so Alice, might giving us a hand, I don't think he will listen to anything I say to him?" Courier asked, while Alice walked up to the captain.

The man eyed the woman with his eyes, smiled and said, "Ohh... What a fine woman. I'd give you a special ride." _Of course, he is a pervert..._

"...Follow my commands," Alice said as her eyes suddenly glowed. The captain suddenly straightened his posture and stood at attention in front of Alice.

"Yes! Your wish is my command!" _I don't believe it. How can those people survive when monsters can hypnotize anyone and take on human's appearance? I give up... this world is too much for me to understand._

"Take us to the Sentora Continent. Start the preparations at once," Alice ordered.

"Understood! Oi, you all! Pack up your fishing stuff and get ready for departure!"

"Eh...? Uh... Ro...Roger!" The perplexed sailors begun to hastily prepare the ship.

"Thanks Alice, that's a nice trick. I didn't know you could hypnotize people," Courier said as he glanced at Alice.

"Haha... These are the magic eyes that high ranking monsters have got. Using them I can charm, confuse, petrify, or cause someone to faint at my will," The Monster Lord answered as she smiled at the praise.

"That's awfully convenient... But how did you know about it, Drake?" Luka asked as he glanced between the duo.

"I didn't, I assumed that it would be the case. I have already met a vampire that had magic eyes like these and could hypnotize people, so I assumed the Monster Lord wouldn't be an exception," the man explained.

"I see, still thanks for the help, Alice," Luka said.

"Hrm. Don't get the wrong idea. It would just be annoying to be stuck here."

"We're ready to depart! Please board the ship!" The captain of the ship declared.

"Captain, where are we taking these people? Who are they, anyway?"

"You idiot! Watch your mouth in front of these fine people! These fine travellers are..."

"Very important people, who carry a message to the king of San Ilia and we need to use your ship," Courier lied without skipping a beat. The sailor looked unconvinced, but he let the trio board the ship. "By the way, how long will it take to reach the other continent?"

"It should take about one day, give or take, but why do you ask?" Luka answered.

"Only one day? Okay, I see. I just wanted to confirm something," Courier answered as he leaned against the mast. The next couple of hours passed in relative silence, while the courier enjoyed the breeze on the ship and the smell of the sea. He breathed in and out the air, before he turned towards Alice and Luka, who were currently training on the deck.

"During battle, it's normally a suicide to jump. When you jump, it's pretty damn obvious what your movements are going to be until you land. But this Demon Skull Beheading is different. By falling too fast for them to hit you, you crush the skull of your enemy," Alice said as she tutored Luka. _Yeah, right. It doesn't work like this, you know? This attack would make sense if you could somehow accelerate fast enough to hit your opponent. However, it is basically useless like this. I really don't get why she is teaching him something like this._

"Like this...?" Luka asked as he climbed up the mast and swung his sword as he jumped off. He repeated this attack a couple of times, before Alice spoke up.

"Hmm... You're still immature, but you learn quickly. It's more or less like that. You need to master it in actual combat now. This technique was favourite of Desureia the Harpy, who was knows as the Death on Wings. Smashing the skulls of the hundred enemies, their brains covering the field in a mess," Alice explained. _Well, I guess it could work for a harpy. Well, whatever, she is the current Monster Lord, so she is most likely better at this than I am._

"...I want you to teach me more Hero-like abilities..." Luka complained, while the courier snorted silently.

"There's a big issue in using this technique, though. As you saw, you need to be at a great height to use this technique... And since you're a human, you can't fly in the air."

"Yes. I know that."

"So there's a condition. If there's nothing to climb nearby, you can't use it. Even if you have got the necessary SP, you won't be able to use it, if you can't climb anything."

"I see... I get it, I'll make sure to remember that," Luka answered, while Alice stared at Luka's ring.

"...Hey, Luka. Excuse me but... Can I see your ring?"

"Alice, I already told you that you can't eat it."

"Who do you think I am? Watch your mouth. I won't eat or steal it, I'm just a little interested."

"Then is it okay for you to look at it, while it's on my finger? I promised my dying mother that I would always carry it with me."

"That's fine..." Alice answered, while staring intently at the ring on Luka's finger. She slowly started to shake her head, before she said, "The residual thoughts from this ring aren't anything special... The hidden power you had doesn't seem related to the ring..."

"That thing that happened when I beat Nanabi? When you said I continued to fight her while sleeping?" Luka asked, while the courier focused on the duo. S _o, that's how he managed to defeat a powerful monster like Tamamo's aide. Intriguing..._

"Though you may not remember it, that power was extraordinary. One ring like that couldn't give you such power...," Alice answered.

"Was it so amazing when I was asleep...?" Luka asked.

"Maybe... One of your ancestors was some high-ranking monster or something. Usually monsters only have female children... But there are some exceptions in rare cases. In some strange mutations, it can be a male. In that way, a normal human male is born. But again with some rare cases, they can retain some magic power. Even as the Monster Lord, I've only heard of a couple rare cases," Alice said.

"A monster... As one of my ancestors?" Luka asked, surprise evident on his face.

"Well, it's only a guess. Your power sure wasn't ordinary. If you have such an amazing latent power, hurry up and master it. Idiot."

"Even if you say that..."

"If you have got a potential like that, it's sure to develop as you fight more. We'll train a lot from now on."

"I know already... By the way, Alice... Did you say you could feel thoughts from this ring?"

"Yes... But it isn't particularly special. Nor does it seem like it's affecting you. Just some thoughts or a mother worried about her child. It's probably your mother."

"I see... My mother's feelings..." Luka muttered as he tightly gripped his ring.

"I also thought that your mother was a monster... But I can't feel any magic like that from the ring. The owner of that ring was definitely human."

"Of course! Besides, my mother died of sickness..."

"I see... I'm sorry to make you remember something painful," Alice said.

"I am sorry for your loss, myself, Luka," Courier said as he walked up to the duo.

"Don't worry about it... But, why do you care?"

"Losing a relative, someone you love is always sad. I doesn't matter who are you, family is always important," Courier answered with a bitter smile.

"I see... By the way, what about your parents, Drake?"

"I don't... remember them. I lost most of my memories, when I was fatally wounded... What about you, Alice?" Courier admitted, while turning towards Alice.

"...I have no idea about my father. Our race cares only about the mother. Perhaps it was just some man my mother attacked. I don't care if she ate him or not... But with my mother's character, she probably didn't kill him. My mother was the fifteenth head of our family... But now she's no more."

"You have my condolences, Alice," Courier said as he awkwardly scratched his head.

"It's gotten a little gloomy... Now, let's resume the training," As soon as Alice said that, the sea started to rage. The peaceful atmosphere from before was shattered instantly, when a storm suddenly appeared in full power from nowhere.

"Is this the storm they were talking about?" Luka asked as he looked around.

"A regular boat would have been capsized instantly by this. But this ship isn't even rocking," Courier muttered as he looked at the bow of the ship, where Poseidon's Bell was softly glowing.

"All right! As expected of Captain Selene's treasure!" Luka declared happily.

"Hrm... What a wonderful treasure a human had," Alice said when suddenly her expression turned dark. Then out of blue, the storm vanished.

"Uwa... What happened?!" Luka asked before a beautiful monster appeared on the bow. "You... are Alma Elma, one of the Four Heavenly Knights!" The monster on the deck, looked very similar to human, except she had a pair of leather wings, a tail and a pair of horns.

"I see... So you're that human. The boy that caught Alice's eye... You look delicious," Alma Elma said as she licked her lips with, while staring at Luka. Then she turned her head towards the courier and said, "And you are the one that caught Tamamo's eye. You look delicious as well..." She repeated the gesture, before she turned towards Alice. "Lord Alice... According to your order, I'll exterminate the Hero who's attacking monsters. May I execute your order of defence?"

"...I don't give exceptions. I'm just observing this boy and his companion. I'm not protecting them, nor giving them a special treatment."

"Haha... I didn't think you'd say that. But I understand. It's like that, Luka-boy and Drake-boy. I won't let you through this area."

"...Luka...boy?"

"Drake...boy? The hell?" Courier questioned as he looked at the monster and scanned her with his implant. _Threat Level: Extreme. No surprise here, that is problematic. If she goes all out on us, we are as good as dead. I have to find a way to defeat her, one way or another. Now then, let's see what Luka does in the meantime._

"Then I'll beat you and pass through by force!" Luka declared.

"Fufu... A little Hero, so full of courage. How do you want me to violate you, Luka-boy and Drake-boy? Do you want me to use my hand? How about my mouth? How about I squeeze you between my breasts...? Or... Do you want to try anal? Oh, how about I try it like this... Doesn't this tail look really good, too?"

"Guh!" Look stuttered as sweat appeared on his forehead, while looking at the monster in front of him.

"All right! I'll do it with my tail! Without using my hands, feet or magic, I'll play with you. Struggle as much as you can, and let me enjoy myself. After we finish playing, I'll be sure to suck you dry. Then... Here I come!"

The courier quickly stepped away from Luka, allowing him to battle his opponent, while he watched the battle unfold. The boy stepped in like thunder and sharply thrust, but the effect was minimal and the monster didn't even flinch.

"If you're even a little careless, my tail will suck in your penis. Gently wrapped around you, I'll suck all your semen out," Alma Elma carelessly said. _Wait a second here. Did she say, wrap around you? I might have an idea, let's see what else she does?_

He watched as Alma Elma shoot a wet mucus from her tail, which in turn covered Luka's lower body. "Fufu... Don't you want to feel the pleasure my tail can bring? Just drop your sword for a second... If you do that, I'll show you the best pleasure..."

"Shut up...!" Luca shouted as he gripped the sword harder.

"Fufu... Are you imagining it? Your penis being sucked into my tail... Being stroked inside my soft tail, bringing you amazing pleasure. You wouldn't even last ten seconds, Luka-boy."

"Guh...!"

"Haha... I'll wind my tail all around you," Alma Elma said before her tail coiled around Luka's body. "Haha... I caught you. Get ready, I'll make you feel amazing..."

"Ge... get off!" Luka shouted as he started to struggle. However, the boy couldn't break free from Alma Elma's tail.

"That's a bad boy, Luka. Just sit back, I'll suck you plenty... I'm not even close to being over," Alma Elma said, before suddenly a mouth opened at the end of her tail. "Now... I'll suck your penis in my tail's hole. It feels amazing inside, so get ready for it. Fufufu... I'll show you heaven."

"Le...Let go!" Luka shouted and broke free.

"Arara... You ran away. I was going to all that trouble to show you heaven, too..."

"Is that so?" Courier as he stood on the railing of a ship, causing Alma Elma and Luka to turn towards him. "Do you feel good about you, now that you can beat someone as weak as Luka with your tail? But, what do I know? Maybe you should pick on someone that can put up an actual fight rather than fighting a guy, who barely knows how to fight?"

"Arara... So you volunteer, yourself? Then I'll wrap my tail around you," Alma Elma said before her tail coiled around the courier.

Seeing this the courier grinned and said, "Ara, you fell for it." Before Alma Elma could understand what was going, the man grabbed the tail with his two hands, bent backwards and let the gravity do its' work. Alma Elma just smiled, when suddenly her eyes went wide open before she was dragged with the courier into the cold ocean.

"Kyaaa!" She screamed when she felt her tail was being pulled down by a humongous weight. The duo hit the surface of the sea and was sent pummelling down into depths of the ocean. A cold water surrounded her and as she looked at the man below her she noticed his eyes shining with a red colour. She kicked her feet and flapped her wings desperately as she tried to stop her descent. She was going deeper and deeper and the light could not reach her anymore. She could feel as her lungs were slowly being pushed to her limit. After a few seconds the duo reached the bottom of the ocean and with a bit of effort she turned towards the courier and for the first time in her entire life she felt truly alive. She swam towards the courier and began her deadly assault of martial arts as she punched, kicked and grappled the man, who was looking at her with that smug expression. It didn't matter where she hit him, whether it was a stomach, a liver, his head or anything else. The man didn't even budge as he took on all the attacks. She could see as his blood was darkening the water, but not even for a second did his smile fade. She could feel her lungs failing as another vital part of oxygen was released from her lungs. She could see her vision darkening and her body growing weak, when suddenly she felt something cover her face and a flush of fresh air filled her mouth.

She desperately grabbed the thing and breathed in the oxygen, relief spreading through her body. Unbeknownst to Alma Elma the device was known as rebreather and allowed the courier to breathe underwater. It looked like someone took a breathing mask and attached a barrel to it, with a help of two long tubes. She turned towards the man, who had was holding a piece of paper in front of him, lighted up by on odd device with a cylinder shape. She focused her attention on the paper and read, "You lost." She snorted as she looked back at the courier and nodded. She noticed to her surprise that despite taking all her attacks on, he looked mostly unhurt, except a few bruises here and there. It surprised her, but she decided not to dwell on it for now. The man then smiled slightly before his weight disappeared and the duo began swimming towards the surface. As they were getting closer and closer they have noticed Alice, who was swimming towards them. When the lamia noticed them, it looked like she sighed before she glared at the courier, swam up to the duo and then helped them get to the surface. When they got close enough she threw the man into the air, hard enough to break the surface and land on the boat.

The courier hit the wood before he vomited all the salty water out of his lungs and slowly got up onto his feet, while grabbing his temple. He took a look around and noticed Alice glaring at him, while Alma Elma was just smiling slightly. "Uhh... I am in big trouble right now, aren't I?"

"Yes, you are," Alice hissed, her tail waving around dangerously. She yelled, "What the hell were you thinking?! Were you trying to kill one of my Four Heavenly Knights?!"

"As a matter of fact, yes I was, more or less," Courier answered as he wrung out some water from his duster. Before he could react, Alice rushed towards the man and pinned him against the mast, coiling her tail around him. "Guh... you know, I think that wasn't the best idea now that I think about it..."

"Oh really? Now, explain how did you do that?! How did you manage to almost drown one of the Four Heavenly Knights?!"

"Well, I knew that neither Luka or I stood a chance against her, so I decided that I could try baiting her into wrapping me with her tail. Then I simply gained a lot of weight and went down into the bottom of the ocean."

"And how did you do that?" She asked as she pressed the man even harder.

"That's... a secret. I will not tell you," Courier expression darkened as he glared back at Alice.

"Wait, Alice don't kill him!" Luka shouted as he stayed at a distance from the duo.

"Don't worry I will not kill him, yet. Not before I know how did he do that and why?"

"Well, Alma Elma said, she wouldn't use her fist, feet or magic, so I decided to test that. And then she used them again, almost killing me back then. How is that any better? To top it all, I have never intended to kill Alma Elma. I wanted her to use her fists or feet or magic and then make her break her word."

"...I really don't believe that you have you just said that. You have risked your life and one of my knights for a pathetic excuse like this?!" Alice demanded as she started to choke the courier.

"Well, it's my loss then," Alma Elma said, as she juggled the re-breather in her hand. Luka, Alice and the courier turned towards the succubus, with a quizzical look on their faces. "I promised, right? I wouldn't use my hands, feet or magic. But I used them anyway to try to break free from Drake's hold... This time, I'll give the win to you. Such a thing is fine, right, Lord Alice?"

Alice sighed, but let the man go, turned towards Alma Elma and said, "If that's what you want, it's fine by me." The succubus smiled before she tossed the man the device, which he hid in his cloak.

"Haha... So that's how it is. I'll retreat this time. But next time... I'll be a serious opponent," Alma Elma said before she seductively licked her finger at the courier. "I'll violate you like this... Even if you scream... Even if you faint... Teasing you all over, I'll show you a hellish pleasure." The words caused the man to shiver slightly as he gulped loudly. "Make sure you look forward to it." Suddenly a strong wind surrounded the ship before Alma Elma vanished in a strong gust of wind.

"We... have won? We were able to defeat one of the Four Heavenly Knights?" Luka asked a big smile on his face.

"...Not using her hands, feet, magic and almost drowning her. Are you really so happy at winning?"Alice countered.

"Urgh... If she was serious, there's no way we could have won, huh?"

"Struggling that much when only fighting against her tail? Before thinking of winning, try being someone worthy of even challenging her."

"She's right, you know?" Courier said as he sat down on the deck and looked into the sky. "Well, at least you know what to expect next time, don't you? The only reason we managed to win is because I used an underhand tactic and almost drowned her. It won't work second time, not by a long shoot. I give up, I am tired. I just want to reach the coast and don't look at the ocean for the next few weeks..." Courier complained. Alice and Luka looked at each other, before they decided they had enough and went to their cabins.

Then, the day after Alma Elma attacked the ship, the trio arrived at Port Natalia. It was a port city in the south-west of the Sentora continent, that had deep traditions.

"I'm finally on the Sentora continent..." Luka said as he stepped onto a new continent with a surge of emotions.

"Hmm... Unlike Iliasport, this place is quite lively," Alice said back in her human form.

"This is the main port for the Sentora continent, so even though they can't trade with Ilias continent, it doesn't seem to have changed much," Luka answered. In the meantime, courier took a look around. The main street had a lot of shops lining the sides, with travellers quickly going all around them. The architecture was mostly medieval, with most of the buildings being made out of stone. "Ah! A Mermaid?!" Luka asked as he noticed multiple mermaids going around, doing their stuff.

"Don't shout like this. Why are you so surprised in the first place?" Courier asked as he glanced at the hero apprentice.

"According to the book, Port Natalia is a port town that has got a lot of mermaids. This town accepts Mermaids as residents," Alice said as she held an old looking book in front of her. On the cover was written "World Traveller".

However, before Luka could answer, one of the mermaids walked up to the duo. She had blonde hair, blue fin and wore, what looked like like a bunch of dirty rags. "Would you like some Mermaid-made grilled starfish?"

"But… Your clothes look so ragged. Are you being enslaved by a bad man…?" the boy asked.

"My clothes are ragged because I just can't make any money… If you feel sorry for me, please buy my grilled starfish!" Mermaid said and forced Luka to buy a Grilled Starfish, while the courier just shook his head at the sight.

"...Anyway, this is a good town, isn't it? Humans and monsters are getting along..." Luka muttered.

"By the way, where are we headed to now?" Alice asked.

"For now, we'll head towards the San Ilia castle to the west. The faith in Ilias is very strong there, so they'll surely give a warm welcome to a Hero."

"...Will they also welcome fake Heroes?" Alice asked.

"I have a heart of a Hero!" Luka declared, clearly hurt.

"Hrm… I don't particularly want to go. The food seems bad, too," Alice declared.

"I have to agree with Alice on this one. No offence, but it seems like a pointless trip, if I am perfectly honest," Courier said. "Hmm?"

Suddenly a beautiful Mermaid with a long purple hair, blue eyes and white gown walked up to the trio, "Um… Excuse me… Mr. Traveller… Could I speak with you for a moment?"

"That's fine with me. Can I help you somehow?" courier asked as he waited for the response.

"I have noticed yours and your companion's weapons, and couldn't help but think you weren't ordinary people..."

"Yes… Seeing this, I could see why someone would think we're strange..." Luka said, while the courier smirked as he looked at the disgusting Angel Halo. Then again, his sword was made of a bumper of a car, so it wasn't much better.

"Someone who wields such an extraordinary weapon… Would you be willing to listen to my story…?" Mermaid asked. However, before Luka could respond a large sound rung out.

"What the?! An explosion?!" The fake hero asked.

"Kyaa!" Mermaid scream while the ground shook violently from the explosion. The group watched as the building across the plaza had suddenly collapsed. Seeing this the courier ran towards the building as fast as ordinary human male could.

"What the?! What happened?!" He asked as he frantically looked at the sight.

"That building… Oh no, the Mermaid school!" She declared. At the same time, all the people nearby began running towards the building.

"What happened?!" A youth asked.

"Isn't that the Mermaid school?! What happened?!" A woman asked. The trio watched as all the nearby residents of Port Natalia started to gather around the building.

"I smell gunpowder… It seems like it was a bomb...," Alice muttered.

"A bomb?!" Luka asked. In the meantime a lot of Mermaids were crawling out of the rubble, while the soldiers, alongside their companion were trying to save the wounded.

"Thank goodness… It doesn't seem like too many were hurt," Mermaid teacher said.

"My tail got burnt…"A small mermaid girl declared. The duo continued watching the spectacle, but it looked like nobody was killed.

Luka let out a relieved sigh at that, before he noticed a familiar face in the crowd. The man had a red cloak, black long hair and a smug grin on his face. "You!"

"...What's wrong, Luka?"

"..." Luka watched as the man slipped back into the crowd. In the meantime their companion walked up to the duo.

"That was definitely a bomb. Not the strongest one, but well placed. It weakened the construction of the building causing it to collapse. Luckily for us, it seems like there are no casualties, but several mermaids got hurt… What's wrong, Luka? You don't look all right."

"Is that filthy man from before an acquittance of yours?" Alice asked.

"Acquaintance… No. That guy probably doesn't recognize me… He was my father's closet friend..." Luka muttered.

"Luka, you are not telling us something," Courier said as he looked at the boy with his arms crossed. _Something is wrong, it looks like whoever that man was, he was either responsible for this act of terrorism or, maybe just some bad memories..._

"… Let's continue on. We don't have time to waste..." Luka muttered.

"No, let's rest in the town for tonight. Are you not aware of how worked up you are?" Alice asked.

"Eh…?" Luka asked and noticed that his body was shaking, with sweat pouring off his face. "I'm… I'm fine..."

"No, you are not. You look absolutely dreadful," Courier said as he glared at Luka. "There is no way, I am letting you go fight monsters when you are like this. You will only lose your concentration and lose immediately. Do you want that? Do you want to lose, because you let your emotions run rampart?"

"I..."

"He is right, Luka. Let's find a hotel and rest for the night," Alice agreed.

"But..." Luka protested, but then courier just grabbed the guy, threw him on his shoulder and carried him to a hotel. The trio entered your average wooden hotel, got the keys to two separate rooms and then went upstairs. Once the trio were in one room, the courier let the boy go. After that Luka took a few steps back and sighed. "… Thanks, Alice and Drake. I'm feeling better already."

"By the way, who was that filthy man? As soon as you saw him, your face got really pale," Alice said back in her monster form.

"I am curious about it as well," Courier added as he leaned against the wall.

"He's one of the leaders of the fanatical Ilias Kreuz group… He might be the top leader at this point."

"Ilias Kreuz…? Just by the name, I already don't like it." Alice asked, while the courier raised an eyebrow.

"They're horrible. They take a fanatical view of Ilias's teachings and advocate the extermination of all monsters. Thou shalt not have intercourse with monsters… They intercept that as meaning you shouldn't have any contact at all. Don't talk to monsters, don't even look at them. In order for humans to not communicate with monsters at all, they decided to exterminate all of them. They're worthless fanatics," Luka said, almost hissed.

"So this is why… That explains why they bombed the school… Those guys are brain dead idiots. Out of all the monsters, they could have attacked they decided to attack local mermaids, who are residents of this town as well. A bunch of clueless terrorist, if you ask me. Instead of protecting the towns from evil monsters they have decided to attack an undefended civilian object, with multiple children in it… Okay now, I am a bit pissed to say the least. When I get my hands on them..." Courier hissed as he clenched his fist. The duo looked at their companion who looked like a viscous beast just waiting to be unleashed for a second, before his normal expression returned when he noticed the duo was looking at him with shocked expressions.

"I see… So you would be their enemy, with what you're trying to do. Coexistence is the opposite of their goals, after all," Alice said as she focused back on Luka.

"They preach about wanting to eradicate all monsters. Not even just the ones on the roads attacking humans, but organizing and attacking monster settlements and towns. I can't allow something like that to happen...," Luka said.

"I see… Sheesh… Among the worthless humans were people even more worthless."

"You could say that twice, Alice," Courier said as he planned a way he was going to annihilate those guys in the most cruel fashion, this time making sure, he didn't look like a maniac.

"… But most people don't listen to them. Even back in Ilias Village, where the belief in Ilias's teachings is strong, they think Ilias Kreuz is too radical. They're just indiscriminately killing and destroying things."

"So even among humans, they ostracise those guys. Being isolated and rejected probably drove them into even more of a frenzy… How worthless," Alice said and sighed deeply.

"Coexistence is going to be tough, with people like that among us..." Luka said.

"…I see. But still, I'm surprised. I thought you didn't understand the world at all. Just skipping through your life with your head full of sugar and rainbows," Alice said.

"How rude. I'm not ignorant of the world… No way… Do you think Ilias Kreuz had something to do with the Slaughter of Remina?!"

"You must be joking. Thousands of humans and monsters lived in Remina. How could a fanatical organization like that had enough strength to massacre them all?"

"She is right, you know. However, I might have a theory for that," Courier said, while the duo turned towards him. "Remember Alice when you told us, that both humans and monsters were killed back then? I have thought about it and I think I might have an idea of two. Let's think about it for a second, who would benefit from both sides being killed during that time? The monsters want peace and so the humanity as far I am aware. So, who is the one, that hates monsters and would do anything to make sure the monsters are exterminated and the trust is broken? That's right, Ilias... She's she most suspicious of all things. Her commandments are the reason monsters have to attack the man in the first place and it would make sense to have both sides blame each other. That or some rogue and powerful monster could destroy the town, but then why would she kill all the fellow monsters? I lack the evidence of this theory, but so far it seems like Ilias is the most plausible suspect."

"That's…" Luka started but didn't know what to say. In the meantime, Alice was looking at the courier with suspicious expression, but she didn't ask any questions.

"Well, it's just a theory, I could be completely wrong. So, who knows? In any event, I will be going back to my room. Take care," Courier said and left the room before he made his way to the one that was given to him. As he was walking away, he heard Luka's moans of pleasure and smirked as he understood what was going on.

Chapter 4 End

Okay, now that is done. I am afraid I will be a bit busy this week. I need to prepare myself for an upcoming test, which I have to pass. So, don't expect an update for at least two weeks.

PS: I hope you enjoyed it so far.


	6. Chapter 5

The courier entered his room, which was simple in design. It had a bed, a table and a chair, all of which were made out of wood. Then he laid on the bed and lost himself in his thoughts. On one hand, having a company wasn't a bad thing, but unlike him they needed their rest daily, while he didn't have to sleep any longer. It meant that he was also slowed down quite a bit, without any way to increase their pace. Of course, he could just leave them and do the stuff on his own, but the monsters were getting stronger as they moved north. Sooner or later, he would need help fighting them, if he wanted to survive. _No matter how you look at it, I really don't have much of a choice right now. Well, I guess I will to travel with them. At least to San Ilia, then we will see. Or I could steal that Alice's book and just use it myself, but I doubt it is a good idea. Well then, what should I do now? I mean I have got entire night to spend and nothing to do... That's boring I need something otherwise I won't last long. Let's see, I have seen how Luka fights, so I should be able to repeat all the attacks he used... Hmm... That's not a bad idea. Very well, let's do this._

With his mind made up, the courier silently opened the door and made his way through the city before he was outside and found a spot, where he could practice without causing any commotion. He drew his Blade of the East and began practising. At first it felt odd to practice Demon Decapitation, as the technique was meant for smaller people than him. Not to mention, it required more subtlety than just swinging a piece of car at your opponent. That said after an hour or so, he was able to come up with his own version of the attack. He called it, Devil Decapitation, because he couldn't come up with anything better. It had a similar effect as he brought the tip of the blade to his opponent's neck and slashed, except instead of jumping at the enemy he dashed toward it. _It seems like I have finally got it. This technique is not so bad, but it wasn't meant for someone like me. Thankfully I managed to overcome the obstacle behind it. Now then, it's time for Thunder Thrust._

The man swept some sweat of his forehead, before he entered the combat stance once more. He breathed out before he quickly stepped forward with his foot and lunged quickly. He repeated the move a few more times, until he was certain he could use it. _That was one much easier, it is basically a quick attack, that is hard to avoid. It is not focused on the cutting the neck, but attacking as fast as you can. Pretty useful, if I am perfectly honest. I will keep the name, as there isn't too much difference between my and Luka's version. Now then, it's time for Demon Skull Beheading_.

He grabbed the giant blade with his left hand and then ran towards the tree, and climbed up as much as he could with his two feet, before he turned around on the trunk and launched himself towards the ground. He hit the ground with his sword, strong enough to leave a mark, before he frowned and put the sword back on his back. _It's no use, this attack is way too predictable for me. I just can't expect my opponent to stay in place, while I climb a mast or something. I will keep it in mind, but I don't see myself using it. Well then, it's time to go back._

He then made his way back towards the inn just as the sun was setting up. As he entered the inn, he noticed both Alice in her human form and Luka leaving the room. He smiled, walked up to them and asked, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, we are ready. How long did you wait for us?" Luka asked.

"I just got here, so a few seconds give or take. Now then, before we go to San Ilia, there is a place I want to see, I hope you don't mind," Courier said and smirked.

"Sure, I am fine with that. But, what is this place?" Luka asked.

"Mermaid Pub," Courier answered with a grin

Alice just looked at him with disgust and said, "Really? You are going to spend some time with some mermaid, when one of the Four Heavenly Knights like Tamamo, got her eyes on you?"

"Hey, it's not like I am going there to do that. I want to have a drink of local alcohol above everything else. Also, what do you mean by that? She was as interested in me as she was in Luka, so what's a difference?" Courier asked as he turned towards Alice.

"The difference is here that Tamamo does not consider most of the men even worth a glance. She has never had a lover for the last ten years as far as I am aware, so to miss a chance like this...," Alice said, a small smile on her face.

"Hahaha, jokes on you, I simply want to try a local speciality before we leave. Is is to much to ask for? Or are you going to deny me a simple pleasure like this? Oh, how can you be so cruel, Alice?" Courier asked, as he pretended to be heart broken, his right hand on his chest.

Seeing this, Alice chuckled, smiled and said, "I am impressed, I did not know you could take a joke like this. Still, I want to see, how do you fare against assets of mermaids, so we should go that pub."

With their mind up the trio made their way towards the pub. The first one to enter was Luka, who decided that he would not lose to a courier.

"Welcome to Port Natalia's famous Mermaid Bar! Ohhh... What a cute boy. Do you want to play with big sis?" A mermaid asked as she put Luka's hand on her chest and blew seductively in Luka's ear.

"Err...Errr...I...," Luka muttered before he ran away.

"Even though he's fought so many monster girls, he still has got no resistance..." Alice muttered and shook her head.

"Ara, what I shame. Would like to play with a big sis, mister?" Mermaid asked as she turned towards the courier.

"I have to decline your offer, I am only here to try out the local speciality," Courier answered and made his way towards the bar, where another mermaid was serving the customers.

"Welcome, how can I help you?" The mermaid asked, a friendly smile on her face.

"I would like a one glass of local speciality, please," The man requested as he sat on a nearest chair.

"Very well, it will be twenty gold for a glass," Mermaid said, before the courier handed over the exact amount of gold. The mermaid took it, before she poured a glass of transparent liquid, which smelled of the alcohol.

The courier grabbed the glass, sniffed it, smiled and drunk it all in one go. He contemplated the drink, for a few seconds before he said, "Hmm... That definitely has got a kick in it, but at the same time it is not too hard on a tongue. Very good, indeed. Not then, it's time to go." He got up from the stool and walked out of the bar, with mermaids looking at him, surprised looks on their faces.

"Hmm... you aren't half bad at ignoring them," Alice said.

"Please, I am better than that," Courier answered as he walked up to Luka, who was still red from embarrassment. After that the trio left Port Natalia and headed west along the beach.

"So, Luka. Do you mind telling us, why do you want to go to San Ilia?" Courier asked, while the trio was walking along the beach.

"I want to ask the king about the path of a Hero...," The boy answered.

"Really?" Courier asked and shook his head, while Alice just looked at Luka with disgust.

"Kyaaa!" Suddenly, a young woman dressed in a blue dress and wearing a hat started to scream. Without wasting a second, the fake hero ran towards her and noticed a monster, who was attacking the woman. It looked like someone took a sea cucumber and then put an upper female half on it. "Ahh! Get away from me!"

"I'm hungry... Even someone like you is fine, let me suck out your energy..." Sea Cucumber Girl said.

"Get away from her!" Luka shouted as he drew his sword and jumped between the woman and the monster. In the meantime, the courier stepped a few meters away with his gloves drawn. The woman looked surprised as she looked at the boy. "Leave this to me, please hurry up and run away!" The woman complied and ran away, without Sea Cucumber Girl giving a chase.

"You look delicious... I'll hold you in my mouth and squeeze out all of your semen..." the monster said.

"Like hell you will!" Luka shouted as he entered combat stance. The boy started off with a thunder thrust, which gave a satisfying blow.

"Just wait a moment, I'll get ready to squeeze everything out of you... Warm and full of amazing juices... It will feel amazing," Sea Cucumber girl said as she prepared to sucked Luka in.

"Defend yourself!" Courier shouted as he watched the duel unfold.

"Now... Come in..." the monster said as she sucked in the boy's body into her mouth.

"...Really?" The courier asked, his hands dropping to his sides as his stared at the sight in front of him. _I don't believe it... How did he do that? I told him to defend himself. At this rate, he won't last long. In any event, let's see what he does next._

"Gah! What is this?!" Luka asked stuck in the monster's mouth.

"My mouth is amazing, isn't it? Licking and squeezing, I'll suck everything out of you...," The monster declared.

"Ge...get off!" Luka shouted as he began to struggle, but he couldn't escape from the Sea Cucumber Girl's mouth.

"I'll take away your power to resist..." The monster said and she wiggled a little.

"Aaa..." Luka muttered as a smile of ecstasy spread on his face. In the meantime, the courier prepared his set of golden gloves as he watched the duel unfold, while shaking his head.

"Stay entranced in ecstasy like that... I'll take care of everything...," The monster said.

"Grr...!" Luka growled before he struggled intensely and broke free.

"Impossible... You broke free?" The girl exclaimed before Luka hit her with his sword. The monster frowned before she once again sucked in the boy's body into her mouth. Seeing this, the courier face-palmed and sighed as he struggled from shooting the monster, or Luka, or himself. _How? How can you fall for the same thing, twice in a row? Urgh... What did I get myself into?_

"Crap... Not again!" The boy said.

"You're back inside... This time, you won't escape," The monster declared before she began to suck on boy's body. Fortunately the boy managed to escape again and sealed the monster with another attack. "To a human... No way..." The monster muttered and then turned into a normal sea cucumber.

"Alice, I think I did pretty good there...," Luka said as he excitedly turned around and noticed the same woman from before. In the meantime, the courier focused his attention the girl, his gloves ready.

"Umm... Thank you so much!" The girl said.

"Don't mention it...," Luka answered as he scratched his neck.

"...I'm so happy to meet someone like you."

"Th...Thanks for your kind words...," He stuttered.

"Umm... Would you... Please be my husband? I want to have your baby...," The girl declared.

"Ehhhhh?! Suddenly saying something like that...," Luka said and took a step back.

"Then I'm no good, master?" The woman asked as she dejectedly hung her shoulders.

"Er... I'm not your master. Suddenly proposing marriage like that...," Luka answered.

"Then live with me for a while. Isn't that a good idea, master?" The girl proposed before her body changed, with her skirt curling upwards and turning into a giant shell. "Let's spend some time together in my shell... I'll fully satisfy you, Darling. The two of us can live together forever!"

"I can't do that!" Luka declared.

"Why not? Is it because I'm a monster...?" The monster asked.

"No... You're just... Way too forceful..." Luka muttered as he entered the combat stance. The courier watched as the young boy fought the monster, who used only pleasure attacks. The boy even got stuck for a second in the big shell before he managed to break free.

"Ahhh!" The Shellfish girl screamed before she turned into a tiny shell, which landed next to a sealed Sea Cucumber Girl.

"What an annoyingly forceful monster. A monster girl like that only ruins our reputation. Your new appearance looks a little painful but... I hope you change your ways next time," Alice said. She then dug a hole in the sand with her tail and quickly buried the sealed monsters.

"Oi, oi... Why did you bury the cucumber too?" Luka asked

"They won't die. I just want to punish them a bit," Alice answered.

"That was terrible," Courier said as he walked up to the duo.

"What do you mean by that, Drake? I thought I fought pretty well," Luka asked as he glanced at the mail-man.

"Really? Is that what you think? Eh... Just a quick question, was every fight with monsters similar to that one? With them sucking you in and constantly using pleasure attacks and such?" Courier asked, his voice strained.

"Well... Mostly yes, what about it?" The boy answered.

"I see... And here I though you wouldn't last more than a few days... Well, whatever. I just know what to expect next time when you fight one of the monsters. Just try not to lose, okay?" The courier said and sighed.

"I will not lose... In any event, let's hurry on. We should almost be to the road that will take us to San Ilia," Luka answered and set out once more.

"Why are in such a hurry to go meet some suspicious King? You're quite an idiot," Alice said.

"Why are you doubting the King...? He's a great person. We can't say anything like that if we want to meet him...," Luka countered.

"I'm a million times greater than some suspicious guy like that. Idiot,"Alice declared. After that the trio made their way until they could no longer smell the sea. They continued to the west for a few hours. San Ilia was finally in front of their eyes, when suddenly a monster appeared.

"Oh... unbaptised travellers. How rare. I'll coil around you... Slowly squeezing your life out of you, I'll torment you..." Lamia said. She had a lower half of a snake, bright hair, blue eyes and a revealing outfit.

"Guh!" Luka grunted as he stood in combat stance. The courier then took a few steps back and let the boy handle the monster. It was an exchange of being wrapped by her tail and using pleasure attacks against sword attacks and a bit of meditation of Luka, which managed to heal his body for whatever reason. Dealt a final blow the lamia reeled but didn't fall down.

"Even though you're a human, you put up quite a fight... If that's how it is, then play time is over!" The lamia said and tore of her clothes.

"Guh... She's stubborn..." Luka muttered.

"You made me angry. I won't let you get away from me anymore!" The Lamia shouted and coiled around Luka. "I'll keep tightening around you and make you weak... I'll violate you by force, and squeeze you dry!" The boy grunted from the tightness but his arm was still free.

The boy slashed with his free arm, but the attack was too weak to seal the monster. The monster continued coiling around the boy, while he hit the monster as hard as he could, repeatedly. _If he doesn't defeat her now, he is going to lose... I'd better be ready._ The courier prepared his gloves just in case, but didn't attack just yet.

"No way... How could I... lose?" Lamia exclaimed before she turned into a tiny snake as a fatal blow was dealt to her head.

"Fuu... I won," Luka said and hid his sword.

"Hrm, is it over? Let's keep going, then," Alice said as she appeared out of nowhere.

"...That's it? Don't you think I've gotten stronger?"

"A little," The Monster Lord answered.

"...That's it?" Luka complained but then he just shook his head and the trio headed out.

In their sight San Ilia appeared. It looked like someone built a giant cathedral and then the rest of the city built itself around it. The trio walked into the city and looked around only to notice a line of strong looking Heroes in front of the gate. There was also a bunch of other adventurers gathered around, who hoped for an audience with the king. As they looked at the sight in front of them a pair of guards wielding spears walked up to them.

"Are you also hoping for an audience with the King? Please sign your name on this application form."

"Ok..." Luka said as he wrote down his name and home-town.

"The King wants to meet all brave Heroes... But since there are so many, it will take some time. It may take around three days, so please spend some time in the castle," Guard a said.

"It takes that long..." Luka muttered, disappointment in his voice apparent.

"You may explore the castle as you wish, but some areas are restricted. You may also sleep for free, so please enjoy your time in San Ilia," Guard b added.

"Thank you! Let's go, Alice, Drake." The bored looking Alice and the courier headed into the castle, while Luka smiled on his way in.

Once the trio was inside, the courier whistled as he looked around. The architecture was simply amazing, much better than anything else he has seen in his world. The walls were covered with beautiful religious artwork, with scenes of angels and Ilias. _Damn, I knew faith in Ilias was strong, but I didn't expect anything like this. Impressive, but completely worthless._ When the man looked at his companions, he noticed that Alice looked unhappy, while Luka looked closed to overjoyed.

"This is amazing..." Luka muttered and stopped in front of giant statue of Ilias, alongside his companions. "This is the famous Magnificent Ilias Goddess Statue. This statue is much more amazing than anything back at Ilias Temple..."

"Is that so?" Alice asked visibly annoyed.

"The great Ilias created the first man and woman... To lead them, she bestowed upon them this magnificent statue. For thousands of years, this statue has guided the hearts of humans," Luka continued, a joy evident in his voice.

"Oh, really?" Courier asked as he began walking around the statue. He then made sure that nobody was looking before he hid a certain cylinder shaped object in one of the corners of the statue.

"By the way, did you notice that everyone is careful when walking around to not point their sheathed sword at the statue? Do you know why?" Luka asked.

"How would I know?" Alice answered.

"It's because one of the five commandments is Point your sword at the Goddess and thou shall cry. I've been careful not to let my sword point at the statue as I walk around," Luka said and made sure his sword was pointed at the ground.

"...How stupid. Since I hate this stupid thing, can I destroy it?" Alice asked.

"What are you saying?! Weren't you listening to what I have just said?!" Luka said, his eyes crossed.

"...Of course I heard it, you idiot. Don't point your sword at the goddess? Making sure you slaves don't become hostile to your owner. You idiots apply it even to this stupid statue of her," Alice countered.

"Err... Well... Anyway, let's just spend some time relaxing. They said it will take three days before we can meet the king," Luka said.

"Three days in this place... Uhg, I think I might die of boredom," Alice muttered before her eyes snapped open as she turned towards Luka. "Oho... Is this your plan? Unable to defeat me in a normal fight, you brought me here to slowly torture me to death in boredom? How cunning..."

"That's... genius! Luka, I didn't expect you could think of such an underhanded tactics like this. Damn, you are evil," courier said and walked up to the duo.

"Don't say that. Let's just explore the castle some. You know... There's sure to be something interesting happening," Luka said.

"Why are you so annoyingly energetic...," Alice muttered before the trio decided to take a walk around the castle.

"Oh, by the way, Luka. I really don't like that statue of Ilias. It takes the valuable place and serves absolutely no purpose," Courier said before he turned around, several feet away from the statue. He looked around and made sure nobody was anywhere near the statue.

"How rude. It is a holy gift, given to us by Ilias, how can you say something like this?" Luka asked.

"Maybe, because I can do that?" Courier asked as he pulled a detonator out of his coat. He then grinned and pulled the trigger.

The explosion shook the castle, as the statue of Ilias exploded into tiny pieces, covering all over the area. The beautiful statue was left completely shattered as the people ran towards it, panicking. The courier then hid the device right after that and made himself look as innocent as he could. Luka was shocked as he stared at the courier, while Alice was smiling as she looked at the man.

"What the hell is going on in here?! Who did that?!"A Captain Guard with a red ornament asked.

"Did something happen? Oh look, a statue fell down..." Courier said as he looked dumbfound at the remnants of the statue.

"You mean you didn't notice? What the hell is wrong with you?! And I only came here for a guy, called Luka, that applied to have an audience with the king..."

"I... I am Luka..." Luka said as he turned towards the captain.

"So it's you? The king will meet you right away," the captain said as he pushed the boy into the audience hall, while Alice followed him with a smile on her face and courier next to her.

The room the trio entered was elegant and bright. It had red carpet on its' walls and floor, leaving only the celling white. In the middle of the room stood a throne, with an old man sitting on it. The man looked more like a wise man than a sovereign, he had a meek, gentle look, but at the same time, he seemed slightly restless.

"I've brought him, King," The captain said.

"Thank you, you're dismissed. I shall have a private talk with him," The King answered.

"Of course," The captain answered and left immediately.

"Traveller that calls himself Luka... I wish to ask you a question," The King requested.

"Eh? Of course...," Luka said

"You... Are not baptised, are you?" The man asked, his eyes focused on Luka.

"Guh... That's right. I'm not baptised..." Luka admitted, while the King's eyes opened widely. "I'm sorry!"

"Oh! So it really is just as Ilias revealed to me in a dream!" The king said, excitement evident on his face. "Last night, Ilias came to me in a dream. With her beautiful hair, and pure face. Her angelic appearance was like a breath of..."

"...That part doesn't matter, why don't you get to something important," Alice said, while the courier and the fake hero could just stare at her.

"Oi! Alice! Watch what you say to the King!" Luka warned.

"...Anyway, so Ilias gave me a revelation. An unbaptised person named Luka would come before me. And this unbaptised Hero will be the one to defeat the Monster Lord," The king said, completely unfazed by Alice's comment.

"I... will?" Luka asked, while staring at the king.

"He will?" Courier asked as he looked at his companion. _That's oddly convenient. Ilias appears right before we come to this castle and then brainwashes Luka into killing the Monster Lord, she is good. I might have underestimated her._

"Now, I shall indicate the path you should take! There are three wise men on this continent. You need to demonstrate your power to all three, and receive their blessings. I shall bestow this only upon the who receives all three blessings," The king said as he motioned to an amazing sword next to his throne. Dazzlingly brilliant, it gave of radiant light. "The sword of a true Hero... The Goddess Sword! If you wield this sword, it's said all monsters – even the Monster lord herself – will bow to you."

"..." Alice looked calm as she glanced at the weapon.

"Now, begin your quest to get proof from the wise men! Then I shall bestow this sword upon you," The king ordered.

"What a stupid quest," Alice said as he slowly walked towards the sword.

"Alice! What are you doing?!" Luka shouted.

"...Fah!" Alice grabbed the sword, raised it above her head and then shattered it into pieces.

"How can this be?!" The king asked as he stared at the remains of the weapon. The courier had no clue what to do, so he just let everything unfold as he watched the scene in front of him.

"Alice?!" Luka gasped.

"It's as you can see, Luka. With a crap like that, you wouldn't even be able to put a scratch on anyone. Three wise men? Proof of your power? What a load of crap from this old man," Alice declared.

"...ooo..." The King of San Ilia moaned as his face went pale. He then started to twitch, his mouth agape while staring blankly at the ceiling.

"I'll show you the Hero's way instead of this worthless King. Go to the Four Spirits and ask for their blessing," The Monster Lord continued.

"Four Spirits...?" Luka asked.

"Salamander, Sylph, Undine, and Gnome. They should be somewhere on this continent. Locate them, and ask for their blessing," Alice explained.

"...What happens when I ask for their blessing?" Luka answered.

"You'll gain a mighty power from each of them," Alice answered with a smile.

"...Really...? More importantly, why would you show me the Hero's way?"

"Then, are you going to do what this worthless King said? Even if you go to all three of those wise men or whatever, the Goddess's Sword is already shattered," She countered.

"Err...Ok. I believe you," Luka said before a strange laughter started to ring out.

"Fuaahaahoha! Oooo Ilias. Look at what happened! Fufuhaha!" The king laughed madly.

"Hey, Alice. I think you might have broken him," Courier said as he walked up to the duo.

"My Lord! What happened to you?!" A Guard Captain said as he ran into the room. "What happened here?! Oh my goddess, the Goddess's Sword! It's shattered! Just like Ilias's holy statue! Luka! What the hell happened here?!"

"Uhm... The Monster Lord suddenly appeared and shattered the sword," the boy answered.

"The Monster Lord did?! Indeed, no other being would be able to destroy that sword... We need to increase the castle defences right away!" The captain declared.

"Hehehe," Courier chuckled as he contemplated all the chaos all around him. He shook his head as the trio quickly got away from the audience hall. He could see that Luka was giving him disproving glares, so he sighed sighed and asked, "I presume, that you are not happy with what have we done?"

"Of course I am! Why did you destroy both the statue and the sword?!" He asked.

"Hrm, the king was speaking such gibberish that I had to wake him up," Alice answered with calm expression.

"Well, the sword has already been explained by Alice. The statue, I really don't like Ilias and I find her commandments to be an utter bullshit. No offence Luka, but your faith and your ideals don't line up, at all," The courier explained. In the meantime the guards were running all over the place in confusion.

"What happened?!" Guard A askied

"The Monster Lord destroyed the sword of the goddess and Ilia's holy statue," Guard C answered.

"But isn't it too quiet...? It seems like the Monster Lord broke in... But there's no trace of her," Guard B said.

"Maybe it was a false report? We need to gather everyone involved and get a better grasp on the situation." One of the guards, said before a loud sound was heard, which sounded like someone just crashed through the roof of the castle.

"A monster is attacking!" Guard E yelled.

"So she is here! It looks like the Monster Lord's attack wasn't a false report after all!" Guard A declared.

"No! It isn't the Monster Lord! It's one of the Four Heavenly Knights, Granberia!" Yelling the final warning, the guard fainted. Right after that another guard fainted.

"No way...!" Luka muttered before Granberia appeared right in front of him. "Granberia! What are you doing here?!" Luka asked, pulled out his sword and stood in front of Granberia.

"Oh... You've certainly changed. You're completely different from when we last met in Iliasburg."

"So you've come to attack San Ilia this time?" Luka asked.

"Don't joke around. What point is there in attacking some castle in the middle of nowhere? I came here to cross swords with you!" Granberia answered.

"M...Me?!"

"Him?" Courier asked as he stared at his companion. _So not only he managed to survive against her, who is also threat level: extreme. He also managed to gain her attention, somehow. Intriguing..._

"Yes, him. I also know about you, you are the one that almost drowned Alma Elma. And I can already tell, you are pretty good judging by your stance and scars," Granberia admitted, while judging the courier.

"I will not deny that... However, I will not let you fight Luka on his own. I may not stand much of a chance, but I will fight alongside him," Courier said as he drew his Blade of the East.

"Very well, I just want to see if the others were just exaggerating your abilities. I'll confirm it with my sword. Now, let's have a match!" The monster declared.

"Guh... I'll stand and fight!" Luka said.

"I am right behind you, Luka," Courier said as he entered the combat stance.

"Thunder Thrust!" The duo exclaimed as they stepped in like thunder and sharply thrust.

"Ohh... Thunder Thrust? It looks like you're pretty good at using that skill. And, it seems like your companion is not half bad himself. Very well then, I will take on both of you!" Granberia declared as she stood in her combat stance.

"I'll assist you, hero!" The guard said as he jumped into the fight next to the duo.

"Don't interfere!" Granberia threatened before she quickly slashed her sword upwards from below at the Guard. The guard shouted from pain, before he went flying and then crumpled on the floor.

"We must assist the Hero!" Two guards said as they jumped into the fight.

"I commend your courage... But!" Granberia said before she swung her sword in a wide arc, cutting everything in front of her. The two guards crumpled on the floor, before she continued, "...They need to have the ability to match that courage. It doesn't seem like we'll get any more disturbances. Now, show me everything you've got!"

"Take this! Demon Decapitation!" Luka shouted as he jumped in and slashed at Granberia's neck.

"Devil Decapitation," Courier muttered as he brought the tip of the blade to his opponent's neck and slashed, as he dashed toward the monster.

"I see... The same attack as last time. But it's a lot more powerful this time. I can see you've been training quite a lot. Not to mention, your partner is quite good, his technique is similar but designed for someone as big as he," Granberia admitted as she quietly held up her sword.

"How's this?! Demon Skull Beheading!" Luka shouted as he climbed onto the celling and jumped off. At the same time, the courier climbed only half the height but turned around on the wall before he jumped off it, increasing his speed. Two crushing blows were delivered to Granberia's head but she didn't even flinch. _I knew it. Even if I hold back a little, she is way stronger than I could ever be. The two of us barely managed to hurt her, so unless Luka gains the power of the spirits or something, I have got no clue how else are we supposed to win...Or I just pump myself with drugs so much that I can fight her on equal terms, either works._

"Demon Skull Beheading... So you've made that technique your own as well... I see. I asked you to show me your skills... However immature you are, there certainly is amazing potential in both of you... Interesting. I'll let you live a little longer," Granberia admitted.

"Eh...?" Luka asked as he stood confused, while Granberia put away her sword.

"Don't disappoint me. Don't be beaten by some worthless monster," Granberia said and vanished.

"All right! We managed to drive her away somehow...!" Luka cheered.

"Somehow, well said," Courier said as he put away his sword and sighed.

"Granberia letting her enemy go twice... It looks like she really likes you. She also Drake go, which I didn't expect," Alice said.

"Oh, really now? Am I supposed to be some sidekick nobody takes seriously? Why is it Luka who grabs the most attention?" Courier asked.

"If she likes me, then why would she show it by swinging her sword at me?" Luka asked, while ignoring the man.

"Idiot..." Courier said as he turned towards the boy, "There are different types of people and monsters. Some are impressed by your genes and your smell, while others will deem you worthy if you prove to them that you are strong enough to be considered a threat. It's not that weird, if I am perfectly honest."

"I see... Alice, If I really get the power of the Four Spirits, will I really get stronger?" Luka asked.

"Yes. If they deem you worthy, you'll make their power your own," Alice answered.

"Just a quick question, can the spirits give their power to more than one person?" Courier asked as he turned towards Alice.

The Monster Lord sighed before she answered, "Unfortunately not, there can only be one official user. It means that only you or Luka can get the power of the spirits. Everyone else can form a temporary contract, which will most likely kill them sooner or later."

"I expected that answer... Very well, Luka you will be the one, who takes their power," Courier said as he turned towards the boy.

"Me? But... You're pretty strong yourself..." Luka muttered.

"Maybe, but I am not the one that fights for coexistence. This is your goal and your destiny. I will help you out as much as I can, but I can already tell you will be stronger than me in no time," Courier admitted as he smiled bitterly.

"Really?" The boy asked clearly surprised, while the man nodded his head. "All right, I believe you... So then, where are the Four Spirits located at?"

"Are you really going to ask me that? Asking the Monster Lord how to gain power to defeat the Monster Lord. How ridiculous," Alice answered.

"Well... It's not like I particularly want to defeat you, Alice... I get it, I'll find them myself," Luka said.

"Well, we could start of with a library in the basement of the castle. That should give us some basic idea, where to look," Courier said as he turned towards the duo.

"I see...Umm...Excuse me sir..." Luka called out to the Guard Captain, who was giving instructions to the injured.

"Oh, sir Luka! I'm yours to command. I'll give not only my strength, but my body and soul to you!" The man admitted, clearly impressed by Luka being able to chase away Granberia.

"...Well, Err... There are Four Spirits, you see. And their power...," Luka started.

"I see... Four Spirits, is it?" The captain asked, as he waited for the boy to continue.

"Basically we want to go the library and check something out. It's very important information to be able to defeat the Monster Lord. And in order to do that, we need a permission to enter the library," The courier said as he stood next to the fake Hero.

"Un...Understood! It usually takes a week, but for you we'll make a special exception!" The captain said, as he rushed to get all the papers ready.

"...Thank you," Luka answered with a smile. After that it took only a couple of minutes, before the trio entered the library. "Uwa! How huge!"

It was like a sea of books, neatly organized on multiple shelves just waiting to be read.

"Man... Libraries are so eerie when they're empty..." Luka muttered.

"Isn't it good for a library to be quiet and peaceful?" Alice asked before she began sniffing a stack of books. "But... This library smells an awful lot like monsters. Slipping into a place like this..."

"Eh...? There are monsters here?" Luka asked as he looked around like an idiot.

"Stop looking around like an idiot, you idiot," Alice said. "It's not like they're wandering monsters roaming around the room. They must have taken possession of a book..."

"Possess a book...?" Luka asked, while the courier raised his eyebrows. _I have never heard of anything like this, myself. Just what are these monsters capable of?_

"Whatever, just hurry up and find what you're looking for. I don't want to spend too much time in this place. Since I can't eat books, I don't like them," Alice said and started looking around.

"I get it, I'll hurry... The Four Spirits..." Luka said and scanned the catalogue. "Let's see... The thirty-fifth bookcase on the second level..." He then picked out the book from the bookcase. It looked extremely old, but it looked like nobody had touched in it for years. "I hope it has got information on where the Four Spirits are..."

As Luka slowly opened the book, a monster popped out of it. It looked like someone took a page from book and put a female torso on it.

"Uwa! A monster appeared from the book?!" Luka asked before he quickly threw the book away and drew his sword.

"It's forbidden to read this book..." Page 17 said.

"What do you mean? Why don't you want me to read this book?" Luka asked.

"It's the Monster Lord's order," the monster said before she attacked the boy. In the meantime the courier looked at Alice, who shrugged as soon as she noticed his gaze. The man then shook his head and let the duel unfold. He watched as the boy attacked, only for his attack to miss completely as the monster swayed like paper, easily avoiding the boy's attack.

"Eh...?" Luka frowned and attacked again, with the same result. "Guh... It's no good."

"Luka use Thunder Thrust and Meditation, without it you will never be able to hit the monster," Courier advised as he stayed at the safe distance. The boy nodded and used the technique, which connected with it's target.

"All right... It hit!" The boy cheered and used the Thunder Thrust again.

"I'm sorry my Lord...," The monster said before she turned into a piece of paper.

"Eh...? Was it sealed...? Or did it die...?" Luka asked.

"She didn't die, her soul is just inside the book now. Just put the book right over here," Alice answered from the corner of the library, where she had started to make bonfire out the books alongside the courier, who was looking after the flame.

"Oioi, what are you two doing?!" Luka asked as he stared at the bonfire, where Alice was preparing to cook a potato.

"Don't worry. These are just the books about Ilias," Alice said.

"Nothing of value is lost, so whatever," the courier added as he threw another book into the bonfire.

"What the hell do you mean "Don't worry"?!" Luka asked but focused on the book. "Anyway, why did a monster appear out of this book...?"

"It must be the type of monster that possess books and attacks whomever opens them. But usually they possess books in storerooms," Alice explained.

"But she said that she was told not to let anyone read it because the Monster Lord told her not to...," Luka said.

"I don't know. Lots of monsters drop my name without ever having actually received orders from me. She must have been that kind of monster," Alice answered.

"...Is that so... So she was that kind of monster..." Luka muttered.

"But for some reason... Ah!" Alice declared before she suddenly stiffened and dropped her half-eaten baked potato.

"What's wrong...?" Luka asked.

"...I have got no idea," Alice answered. At the same time, the courier looked at the Monster Lord with a look that said: "I know you are lying, you know?"

He then shook his head, before he pulled out a few pieces of coyote meat and started cooking them on the fire. Alice looked at the meat with a hungry look, so the courier just shook his head and gave her one of the steaks once it was done. The Monster Lord happily devoured the meat, her tail waving, while the man hid the rest of the meat before she could eat it. She gave him a glare, but he didn't budge so, she went back to cooking her potatoes.

"All right, I've pulled myself back together. It's time to read this book," Luka said, opened the book again and then another monster popped out of it. It looked like someone took half of a librarian's body, put in the middle of the book and gave her a huge hand right behind her. "What the? Again?!" Luka asked as he quickly put up his sword. "Um... Could you please leave me alone? I just want to read that book..."

"Haha... What a cute man. I'm interested in a man's penis... Just a little... Could you let me play with yours?" The monster asked.

"Not listening to me, eh? Well then, here I come!" Luka declared.

"Hehe... I'll play with your penis plenty. Gently... Carefully..." The monster said.

At the same time, the courier began cooking the rest of his meat, including a few pieces of dog's meat and Bighorners's meat. He had plenty of that, though it didn't help that Alice looked like she was about to jump him. Thankfully the Monster Lord, showed some restraint as she went back to cooking her potatoes.

"Beaten by a human like this..." The monster muttered as it turned into a single piece of paper.

"Oioi, what's going on here? A second monster came out of this book?" Luka asked.

"I... I don't know!" Alice said as she avoided Luka's accusing glare before she focused on cooking another baked potato. "...My amazing intuition tells me that's there' s one more monster in that book. It's quite a powerful one, too. Be careful."

"Ok... All right! Here I go!" Luka declared, took a deep breath and opened the book again. Just as Luka expected a huge monster shot out from the book. It looked like someone took a body of a female librarian and then gave her tentacles and a giant vagina.

"By the order of the Monster Lord, I cannot allow you to read this book. Especially not, if you are a Hero," Page 65537 said.

"I'm sorry, but I'll read it even if it's by force!" Luka declared.

"I love silence... Thus, I hate energetic people like you. Therefore, I'll suck up all your energy as my nourishment," The monster declared.

The courier looked at the last monster and his eyes went wide open before he shouted, "Holy hell! What the hell is this thing?! Luka kill it with fire, right now! I don't want to have nightmares, after that!" The monster and the fake hero turned towards him with a surprised looks on their faces, before they focused on each other again. He watched as the fake Hero and the monster fought, before Luka's attack caused the monster's hair to become undone.

"...You had to go and do that. It's time for me to get a little serious," The monster said before her eyes flashed as she stared at Luka, who stiffened like a brick. "Now then, shall I take my time in squeezing everything out? Now then, shall I deprive you of freedom?" The monster asked as her tentacles shoot out and grabbed boy's body. "Now then, shall I play with you until you're exhausted?"

"Grr...Let go!" Luka growled as he started struggling, but he couldn't break free of the monster's tentacles. "Ahh..." Luka exclaimed a moan of pleasure as he got closer to his limit. He struggled once more and somehow managed to break free. He then meditated twice and breathed out before he was ready to fight once more.

"Ah!" The monster shouted as her glasses fell off. "To think you would go that far. I will never forgive a man like you. I'll finish you with my full strength!"

This continued for a few more moments until the boy managed to deal a fatal blow. "I... To a human...?!" The monster then turned into a normal looking book.

"All right! Huh?" Luka asked before the monster turned back into her original form. "What's going on...?"

"Because of my special body composition, I can resist the sealing effects of your sword. You won't be able to seal me like you did the others. All that effort was wasted, Hahaha!" The monster said as she laughed like crazy.

"No way...," Luka muttered.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Courier shouted as he reached into his coat just in case.

"My only weakness is fire, but a human swordsman like you can't use such magic. Therefore, the only thing left for you it to be defeated by me," Monster explained.

"Guh...! What should I do...?" Luka asked

"Are you surrendering? Now, allow me to suck out your energy...," The monster said, a sadistic smile on her face.

"Gah..." Luka shuddered as the monster approached him, when suddenly, flames appeared.

"What is this?! Impossible, did you do this?!" The monster asked.

"Wha...What?" Luka answered just as surprised.

"Wah! I screwed up the potato! This isn't good, the fire's going to burn the rest of my potatoes!" Alice shouted.

"No... This flame! I can't maintain my body... Lord! I'm sorry to fail you!" The monster said before she got turned back into a book.

"All right! Err... This isn't good!" Luka cheered for a second before he looked around. The flames were quickly spreading, as more and more of the library was catching fire.

"Hahaha... Look at it spread," Alice said as she watched all the books about Ilias burn to ashes.

"What the hell are you laughing for?! We need to do something! If you're the Monster Lord, use water magic or something!" He demanded.

"I could submerge this entire castle underwater, if I wanted to, with my power. However, it's pretty difficult to limit my power. I don't really have confidence in my control," Alice said.

"What the hell do you mean by that?!" Luka asked.

"I'm not really good at water magic," Alice answered.

"Look at the bright side, at least we managed to cook some nice steaks," Courier said as he hid well-done piece of meat in his duster before he walked to the boy. The fake hero gave the man a deadpan as he tried to come out with a plan, while he looked in confusion at the expanding flames.

"Are you finding everything all right, Lu... What the hell is this?!" Guard Captain said as he entered the library.

"Oh, hello. What's going on? Oh look... A fire..." Luka said as he looked dumbfound at the captain. Hearing the boy, the courier smiled as he gave the boy an approving look.

"You didn't notice the fire?! Is this the work of another monster?! Anyway, we have to rescue the books! First put out the fire! We can't let it spread!" The Guard Captain said before he started to order the guards, who were rushing into the library. Among the confusion one could a trio of adventurers slipping out of the library as fast as they could. The trio quickly made their way to the town surrounding San Ilia Castle, with Alice having her head down as she followed the fake hero.

"Really, this time I'm actually sorry. Accidental fires like that are really horrible, I try to avoid them in my own castle too," Alice apologised.

"Well, I think they were able to save all the valuable books... But I left the book in the library... I wonder if it burned...," Luka said.

"...Here,"Alice said as she handed over the Four Animists and their Sources to the fake hero. "...I took it in the commotion."

"Oh! Tha... No, I'm not going to thank you. You were the one that messed up everything in the first place," Luka said as he took the book.

"Sorry...," Alice repeated with a sigh.

"Why don't you forgive her, Luka? If it hadn't been for the fire, you would have lost the fight. So, don't be an idiot and accept the apology," Courier said as he gave a hero a deadpan.

"...Well, I guess you are right. Thank you, Alice, I appreciate it," The fake hero said as he turned towards the Monster Lord. Alice smiled lightly at the hero, before she turned towards the courier and smiled slightly as well. After that, the trio decided to sit on the nearby bench and read the book. "Hmm... It looks like Sylph is the closest, in the nearby Forest of Spirits."

"Elves live separated from other monsters in the Forest of Spirits. As the Monster Lord, I don't really want humans to go into that forest...," Alice muttered.

"I understand, Alice. As long as they don't attack me first, I won't bother them," Luka said.

"Good. Since you're a human I can trust, I'll allow you to enter the forest," Alice said as she looked at the boy.

"Hey, what about me?" Courier asked as he turned his towards Alice.

"Hmm... I don't know. I can not say, I trust you. However, I like the fact that you destroyed the stupid statue, so I will let you enter as well," Alice answered.

"That's something I guess...," Courier said and sighed.

"Finally, I meet you again... My Darling, I shall shower you with the affection I've built up over the past hundred years," A mysterious voice said, before out of nowhere Amira appeared. Luka and Alice looked at the Lamia, their eyes spread wide open. The boy's hand went to his sword, but before he could draw it, the courier grabbed the boy's hand and shook his head. Then Luka let the sword go, while the man turned his attention towards the lamia. "I am Amira, an Unfortunate Lamia. My fiery passion burns brighter than a transient phoenix, as it rebirths stronger every time it is shot down."

"What are you doing here, Amira? I thought, the sea route was still blocked?" Courier asked as he waited for the response.

"Actually, I was hiding on the same boat as you. Together on our boat of love, I'll follow my Darling anywhere," The monster answered.

"...I see. May I ask, why do intend on stalking me out of all things?" Courier asked as he held in the surge to face-palm.

"...An ugly Lamia like is avoided wherever I go. Everyone pokes me with sticks, or throws stones at me as I pass by," Amira answered. Then a pair of children run up to her, smiles on their faces.

"Uwa! Hey, Big-sis snake is here!" A young boy said.

"Let's play! Let's play!" A young girl said.

"...Yeah, those children sure seem like they hate you," Courier said as he gave the Lamia a deadpan. In the meantime the children were tugging on Amira playfully.

"Hey sis, are you strong?" The boy asked.

"Can you defeat all the ghosts in the haunted mansion to the north?" The girl asked.

"My character is designed for impact, not physical strength," Amira answered.

"Haunted mansion to the north? What's there?" Luka asked.

"It's a huge mansion with ghosts infesting it," The boy answered.

"Baaad ghosts come out, and don't let us play there anymore!" The girl complained.

"Ghosts don't exist!" Alice suddenly yelled out.

"Don't yell like that, you will scare the children," Courier said as he glanced at the Monster Lord with a smirk. (So, Alice is afraid of ghosts, huh? Well, it would be a shame to leave those ghosts to their problems.) In the meantime, the children were too busy playing with Amira to notice Alice.

"...Hrm. Stupid humans. Believing in such superstitious crap like ghosts. Fearing such stupid things... How foolishly foolish," Alice snapped.

"...What are you talking about, Alice?" Luka asked. Before Alice could answer, two soldiers noticed the group.

"Ah! A monster is in the town!" Guard A said.

"She may know something about the Monster Lord breaking in earlier! Catch her!" Guard B shouted as the guards charged towards them.

"Run, bitch run!" Courier yelled as he grabbed both Amira and Luka, before he ran away from the guards with Alice just behind him. Once they were a couple hundred meters away, he let the duo go and sighed. "...Now that I think about it... I didn't need to run away, did I?" Courier asked. Then Amira gave him a smile, which made him shudder, before she ran away in opposite direction. _Why did I run? I could have just lied to them or something? That was weird..._ He shook his head looked around. Currently they were located at a plaza, which was located in the castle town.

"Well... It seems like the people here aren't very welcoming of monsters. As I thought, this place has been tainted by Ilias," Alice said with a frown on her face. "Hmm... What's that?" Alice's eyes rested on a wooden bulletin board, covered in notices held on by small thumb-tacks.

"This is a request board, where people post things they need help with," Luka explained as he walked up to the board. "Shall we check it out?" He asked as both the courier and the fake hero read through all the requests. _Looking for a guard... a skilled blacksmith... a cute puppy?_

"Hrrm... It doesn't look like we can fulfil any of these," Luka voiced his thoughts, while the courier nodded his head. Just as they were about to walk away, a pigeon came flying over the trio and landed on top of the board. Attached to the pigeons' foot was a tiny slip of paper.

"Hmm... What's with this pigeon?" Alice asked as she examined the animal.

"Alice, this pigeon is working hard... Please, don't eat it," Luka pleaded.

"Like I would!" Alice snapped. In the meantime, the pigeon used its' beak to take the paper off its' foot and stuck it onto the board before flying away to its next stop.

"That's a notice pigeon. Just like that, they deliver notices to settlements all over the world," Luka explained. _Wait a second, that gives me an idea. If I manage to train the cazador or nightstalker to carry mail, it would be much easier. Hell, I could start my own branch of Mojave Express with cyber-dogs or anything else to carry the mail!_ The man grinned as he went through all the ways he could use that knowledge.

"I see... Humans trained pigeons to do such a thing... You humans sure think of some interesting things," Alice said. The fake hero smiled at her words, before he looked at the new request.

"To those, who don't have a bias against monsters. I have a request, so please listen to my story. I live at 6 th street 3-29 in the South District of Port Natalia...," Luka read. "I'm interested... Shall we go and see what they have to say?"

"Surely, you aren't going to return to Port Natalia?" Alice asked, definitely unhappy about going back to the same place again.

"Still, I want to go. I'm sure this will be something that brings together humans and monsters..." Luka countered.

"You really like doing all these stupid acts of kindness, don't you? Just leave it alone...," Alice complained.

"I'm a Hero, it's my job to help those in need," Luka said.

"A fake Hero...," His companions countered at the same time.

"It's because I'm a fake Hero that I must have the heart of a true one!" Luka declared.

"Hrm. You learned how to talk back...," Alice said and she sighed.

"Well then, why don't we go around and ask around about this whole mansion?" Courier proposed to his companions.

"I agree, let's split up and meet right here in an hour. After that, we will decide what to do," Luka agreed and the trio split up. Alice went with Luka to the tool shop, while courier went around to ask local citizens. An hour later the trio met up again, shared all their information and left the town.

"I wonder what's really happening at that haunted mansion. Everybody it town was saying something a little different," Luka wondered.

"A dead girl, execution ground, graveyard, and a strange sorcerer," Courier counted. "There has to be some truth in every rumour. Still, it looks like a haunted house, one way or another."

"I agree, well, what do you think, Alice?" Fake hero asked as he turned towards his companion.

"No! Stupid unscientific things like ghosts don't exist. Stop being so stupid," Alice snapped back in her monster form.

"But aren't there zombie monsters and such...?" Luka asked.

"Those aren't ghosts! When a lot of magic gathers inside dead bodies, they turn into normal monsters. Don't mix them with stupid things like ghosts!" Alice countered.

"We may have to go to that haunted mansion... I don't want monsters to continue to trouble humans...," Luka said.

"This isn't necessary! Go to the Forest of Spirits and get Sylph! We don't have any time for pointless detours!" Alice demanded.

"I disagree," Courier said while Alice glared at him. He shook his head and continued, "Right now, Luka is way too weak to go to the Monster Lord's castle. He needs to get stronger and to do that he needs to fight and gain experience. So, we should take every detour we can, just because of that. Not to mention, Sylph is not going to suddenly disappear if we take a few days longer."

"I agree, speaking of detours. There was also that request from Meia," Luka said as he remembered the annotation. "There's a lot to do here for a Hero..."

"You're just an idiot. Stop doing pointless things for strangers," Alice insulted the fake hero.

"All right, let's head to Port Natalia," Luka decided and the trio headed off to Port Natalia.

Chapter 5 End.

Oh, before I end this chapter let me tell you something. I know this is very similar to canon of MGQ, but I can not exactly stray away too much, even if I wanted to. Courier is strong and he has got some really broken weapons and tools, but showing them to Ilias is asking for trouble. That is why things were similar in this chapter. I will try to stray away from them in future ones and make courier something more, other than a sidekick to Luka and Alice. It is not going to be a 100% carbon copy of the plot, simply because it would be boring. I already have got a few ideas planned here and there, so hopefully you will find them in the next chapter.


	7. Chapter 6

*** A small Notice Regarding the comments ***

After reading comments of: RedRat8 and Dragonrider goku. I have decided to give some explanation, why I decided to go this way with fiction. Let's take a weapon from Fallout New Vegas – Compliance Regulator. It allows the user to paralyse the target for ten seconds and can be stacked multiple times. It is broken on so many levels, it is not even funny. It cannot be blocked, nothing is immune to it (including robots and bosses like Ulysses), has got fast firing rate and low ammo consumption. Basically how it would look, if courier used it all the time. Courier shoots Alice, Alice is paralysed, Courier cuts off Alice's head using industrial hand and shooting her a couple times more to make sure, she stays down. Tadam, Monster Lord killed. The same thing would happen to any other enemy, including Ilias, thus making it broken as hell. That is why, I am not using it or any other weapon like this. It simply is too strong, and just like the last time, we don't want Ilias to find out about any of courier's trump cards. Also, we are back in business, I assure you.

*** Notice End ***

The trio were walking down the path towards Port Natalia in silence, not talking too much.

"Oh, by the way, Luka. I have a few questions to you and Alice. I hope you don't mind," Courier said suddenly as he turned his head towards the fake hero.

"I don't mind that at all, so what would like to know?" Luka asked as he focused on his companion.

"Well, to start off, how did you and Alice meet in the first place? Did you save her life or something?" Courier asked.

Hearing this, Alice snorted and said, "Luka, saving my live? Not even close."

"Hey! That's rude... Still, I guess I didn't save her life or anything...," Luka agreed, but he wasn't happy about it. "Basically, Alice fell from the sky and I ran to her and made sure she was all right."

"That's... unexpected. I mean I expected something more crazy than, a Hero and a Monster Lord meet and then decide to go together," Courier admitted as he turned towards Alice.

"He forgot to mention the fact, that I found him to be nothing more than a naive idiot and decided to see how his dreams shatter in front of him. I also wanted to explore the world myself, so the two objectives came together," Alice said and shrugged.

"Hmm... I guess, that makes sense... Anyway, there is another thing that bothered me. How did you even survive against Granberia?" Courier asked as he turned towards the fake hero.

"Well, it was...," Luka started but was cut off by Alice.

"Luka decided to act like and idiot and challenged Granberia. He then used Demon Decapitation and was promptly defeated, before I saved him from her," Alice said, while Luka gave her a pleading look. Hearing this the courier burst out laughing as he stared at the fake hero.

"Really? So, that's how you got her attention! Now it all makes sense! Hahahaha, oh man, that was great. Well, Luka you have got some balls, I admit," Courier said while he grinned like crazy.

"Uuu... that hurt, you know?" Luka said, his pride hurt.

"Okay, sorry, sorry. I couldn't help myself, but well, I am impressed. I didn't know you were borderline suicidal, that makes it all even better! Hahahaha, you are just like Boone...," Courier said before he scowled and shut up.

"Boone...? Who is that?" Luka asked a bit surprised by the sudden change in mood.

"He is a... friend of mine, or at least, he used to be," Courier admitted, then shook his head and turned towards Alice. "Hey, Alice. You said, that you wanted to know more about me. So, are you willing to listen to a story of my companion, who I helped?"

"Hmm... Seeing the reaction it caused, I am curious about him," Alice admitted before she continued, "Very well, let's hear the story."

"Okay, fine. However, you will need a bit of background. Where I come from, there is this nation, country, empire, something along those lines. They are called Caesar's Legion, led by a guy named Caesar. On his own, he created a powerful army, which consists of all the tribes he conquered and assimilated into his own regime. It's a long story, so what is important is how his empire treats others, women in particular. They use them as a breeding stock, until their bodies can not longer take it. Not to mention rape, slavery and being treated like a second class citizens," Courier said. He could see a look of disbelief on both of his companion's faces as they stared him.

"How could they do such a thing?!" Luka asked, his voice raised as he looked at the courier, who simply shrugged.

"Well, it's not that different from most of the monsters here, so why not?" Courier asked, while Alice gave him a glare.

"Not all the monsters are like this," She countered.

"That's true, but unfortunately, they are in majority. In any event, for all the evil it does, at least it is efficient. Basically, those legion guys took Boone's wife, who was pregnant at a time and paid a good amount of money to a bitch that sold her. Boone found out about it and followed the legionaries to the place, where she would be transported to a legion's territory. He didn't want to see his wife live a life like this, so he killed her, that way she wouldn't have to go through this hell," Courier said and let it linger in the air for a while.

"He... killed her?" Luka asked in disbelief. "But... why? Couldn't he save or something?"

"How could he? He was one guy, against fifty or more of them. Even with a good equipment, he would have gotten himself killed in an instant," Courier explained before he continued, "Moving on, a couple of months pass and I come into Novac, where Boone lives. I go all around searching for clues and then I found out, who was responsible for it. After that, I lured the bitch to a designated place, where she was killed by Boone. Once he found about it, he was grateful but at the same time he had nothing else to do. His wife was dead, his only child too and now his killer too, leaving him an empty shell of a man," Courier explained.

"Hmm... it makes sense, why he acted the way he did...," Alice muttered to herself as she didn't expect the story to be this brutal.

"So, what did you do next?" Luka asked, his eyes focused on the courier.

"Well, to make it a bit shorter. We went together all around and annihilated a couple legions camps, saved a bunch of refuges and then I convinced him to let go of the past," Courier said and ended the story.

"I see, that's good to hear... I guess?" Luka admitted, not sure what to think.

"Wait a second, there is something that bothers me," Alice said as she turned towards the courier. "What do you mean, annihilated? Did you kill all those slavers or did you do something else?"

"I went in with Boone and turned them into a bloody paste, does it answer your question?" Courier countered as he looked at Alice, who gave him surprised look.

"This is not what I expected... Just how many people, did you kill?" Alice asked, her eyes spread wide open.

"Wait, you killed people?! Why?!" Luka asked, finally catching up to the conversation.

"Yes, I did kill people, what else was I supposed to do? Let them kill me instead?" Courier asked a bit annoyed.

"No, but... just how many did you kill?" Luka asked, as he stayed away from the man.

"Hmm... That's a good question. Here, let me check," The man said, as he brought up Pipboy Readius to his face. The duo looked at an odd device, while the man picked through the dials, until he found the statistics tab. His eyes went wide open, before he bit his lip and turned towards his companions. "Well, according to this handy thing, I have already killed fifty people," The courier lied as he looked at his companions. _Fifty people, yeah right, more like almost six hundred. But, I would rather not tell them that. It would be too much._

"Fifty people?! You have killed fifty people already?!" Luka questioned, his eyes full of shock as he drew his sword and aimed it at the man.

"Yes, yes I did. Majority of them were killed in self defence, but I don't think that matters to you, does it?" Courier asked as he glanced at the sword.

"Of course, it doesn't matter! How can you casually kill people like this?!" Luka asked, anger evident in his voice.

"Oh, so I should leave them be instead?!" Courier asked, genuinely annoyed. "Let me tell you something, Luka. I have killed bandits, thieves, rapists, monsters in human skin like Driver Nephi, Cook-Cook or Violet. Those guys were no longer humans, they were psychopaths strung out on drugs. Nephi butchered people with a golf club, Cook-Cook raped woman and burned to a crisp those he didn't like, Violet fed her dogs with human's meat!" He almost screamed the last sentence and glared at the fake hero, who took a step back. "I have killed, Luka, I am not denying that. However, unlike you I don't have a sealing blade and I am the one that lives in a crapsack world! You have got no right to judge me," Courier growled as he glared at Luka.

"Maybe, I don't, but there had to be a different way...," Luka said and somehow stood his ground.

The man then sighed and admitted, "Maybe, you are right. Maybe, there was a different way, but I can't change the past anymore, even if I wanted to. All I can do now, is live on and hope I don't repeat my past mistakes..." The man just looked at the boy, his eyes old, old with experience and regret.

Seeing courier this way, fake hero cursed himself before he hid his sword and said, "You are right. I am sorry, but... I didn't know anything like this. You never told us anything, so..."

"Eh... for now, just let it go. I have already told you more than I should have," Courier said and continued, "Still, one day, I may tell you more, but for now, let's focus on the task at hand."

"He is right, Luka," Alice said as she focused on the mail man. "I don't think Drake wants to hurt others, but if what he said is true, then it makes sense, why he has got this sort of mindset. He helped us out and even helped out with harpies and bandits. If he was a truly evil person, then why would he act like this? I can understand your anger, but how different is it from you defending yourself?" The courier looked at Alice and smiled gratefully, before the Monster Lord shifted her gaze.

"That's... Well, I guess you are right, Alice," Luka admitted before he turned towards the man and apologised, "Drake, I am sorry that I acted like this. Will you... forgive me?"

"..." The man judged the boy in front of him, before he smiled slightly and said, "I will forgive you, Luka. However, please at least try to understand me, before you judge me. I know that is hard to accept that there are people like me, but what else am I supposed to do?"

"That's... you are right. I can't judge you, I shouldn't judge you. I guess, I will have to make sure you don't kill anyone else," Luka said as he scratched his neck.

"Please, Luka. I may not be a saint, but I know how to behave myself. I won't go onto a rampage and kill everyone I see. I am a soldier, not a monster," Courier said as he rolled his eyes. Hearing this Luka smiled, while Alice smirked.

"So, you really are from a different world, aren't you?" Luka asked as he sheathed his sword.

"Took you long enough, you know? What gave it away? My weapon, my clothes or maybe my stories?" Courier asked as he gave the fake hero a deadpan.

"You are not going to deny that or anything?" Alice asked with a curious glance.

"Why would I? It was pretty damn obvious from the very beginning. Remember, how I showed you my spine and then told you some bits and pieces about me? That should have been more than enough to draw a proper conclusion," Courier answered with a shrug.

"Fair enough. A part of me wants to know more about your world, but after what I heard, I am not going to push it. Still, if you want to share some of your tales, we will be glad to listen," Alice said and smiled slightly.

"Maybe one day, but I think my world is less important than your problems. Somebody has to take care of all the monsters that attack people, right, Luka?" Courier asked as he turned towards his companion.

"You are right, all right then! Let's go to Port Natalia!" The fake hero decided and the trio made their way back to Port Natalia without any obstacles. The town was as lively as the last time, with multiple mermaids going all around tending to their business.

"Mmm... These Yamatai crackers are delicious," Alice said as excitedly ate the crackers Luka bought earlier for his companion. The courier could only smile as he glanced at the Monster Lord. _That guy has it rough, having to feed Alice all the time. Still, at least she taught him some attacks and practised with him a bit. I think that is more than enough._

Just as the trio were about to look for the house that requested help, the same mermaid merchant with horrible products walked up to them. "I have got a new product! Grilled Sea Anemone! But it isn't selling well either..."

"...Why do you keep on grilling such strange things?" Luka asked as he looked at the disgusting food on the stall.

"It's fine, just buy it! I want to get out of these ragged clothes...," Mermaid said and forced Luka to buy baked sea anemone. The courier could only shake his head at the terrible bartering skills of his companion.

Then a thought crossed his mind, before he grinned, turned towards the boy and said, "Hey, Luka. Mind going for another round?" Courier asked as he pointed at the Mermaid Pub. Seeing the pub, a cold sweat appeared on fake hero's face. He then sighed and entered the pub, with his two companions right behind him.

"Oh... Welcome, you cute Hero. What are you going to order?" The mermaid asked as she walked up to the fake hero.

"Ah... I don't drink alcohol," Luka admitted and scratched his neck. In the meantime the courier gave him a look of disbelief and looked back at the mermaid.

"Then, do you want to hear the story of how Mermaids came to this town?... It's a sad story from a hundred years ago, between a young human and a Mermaid. A long time ago, there was a young sailor named Alan in this town. One day, his ship wrecked while on a voyage. He was attacked by a shark, and was mortally wounded. Suddenly, a beautiful mermaid named Laura appeared, and saved him. It was a love at first sight for Laura. Alan's injury was so severe, that normally it would kill a human. There was a puncture wound through his left chest that went half an inch into his lung, leaving him in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest. His spine was also injured in the shark attack, and he had lost a third of his blood." The mermaid told the tale.

"These kind of injuries should have killed him soon after he was attacked. How did he survive then?" Courier asked in disbelief as he listened to the tale.

"Exactly, normally someone wouldn't have survived that. So, Laura made Alan drink her blood. You may not know, but the blood of a mermaid is a powerful medicine. Drinking her blood, Alan was somehow able to recover. But even with her blood, he wasn't able to be completely fine. For a full year he had to drink her blood every day, or else he would have died. So Laura pretended to be a human, and followed Alan to the town. She secretly mixed her blood in with his food to keep him alive," The mermaid continued.

"...Why did Laura have to disguise herself?" Luka asked as this detail caught his attention.

"Remember how close we are to San Ilia, Luka? These guys hate monsters, so Port Natalia, which is very close by, would probably act in a very similar manner," Courier answered as he listened to the story.

"Your friend is correct, the town hated monsters at the time. So Laura had no choice but to pretend to be a human. Months passed like that, as she continued to take care of Alan. Laura and Alan fell completely in love... One day, it was discovered that Laura was not a human. Alan's love didn't change, but the other townsfolk were different. People were terrified of her, and accused her of being the source of all the bad things happening in town. Finally, soldiers caught her and decided to execute her," The mermaid continued.

"But couldn't she have escaped? As a mermaid, she would have been stronger than any guard...," Luka asked.

"You idiot, if she ran then Alan wouldn't be able to drink her blood. He would have died without her," Courier answered as he could only sigh at his clueless companion.

"That's correct," The mermaid said, smiled and continued, "Laura decided she would turn herself in and choose to be executed by skewering. Choosing the bloodiest possible method, she wanted Alan to be able to collect all of her blood."

"No... How awful...," Luka muttered, clearly shaken by the story.

"Alan figured out what Laura was planning on doing by the letter she sent him... He decided to kill himself by drinking poison. If he died, Laura wouldn't be forced to stay by his side to give him her blood. He couldn't bear the thought of Laura being executed for his sake," The mermaid explained.

"It's not like any of them had too much choice...," Courier muttered as he listened to the story.

"Laura fled from the execution ground after hearing of Alan's death. For the next few days, a storm blew through the town, as if summoned by Laura's grief. The people of the town regretted their actions. They decided to repent, and came to accept mermaids... The end," The mermaid finished her tale.

"...That's a sad story," Luka answered, his voice a bit shaky.

"It's a legend, so I don't know how true it really is, but it's been handed down through the years in this town...," The mermaid answered. After that, the trio thanked for a beautiful story and made way to the house, that sent a request.

"6th street... 3-29... Is this it?" Luka asked as he walked up to the house that matched the address on the noticeboard. It had white walls, two floors, several windows and a wooden door. Luka then knocked on the door twice, before he asked, "Is anyone there?"

"I'm coming!" A woman's voice called out excitedly. The door opened and the same mermaid they have met before appeared in front of them.

"Oh...? Are you Meia?" Luka asked as he waited for the response.

"Yes... I'm Meia," The mermaid answered before she turned towards the courier. "I'm sorry for cutting our conversation short last time... Due to the explosion, I completely forgot about our conversation..."

"It's all right. We were just as distracted as you and left in a hurry. There is no need to apologise," Courier answered as he smiled slightly. After the group went inside the house. It was simple, with a few chairs, a table and double bed.

"Please excuse the small house... I don't have much to entertain you with either...," Meia apologised and set down some suspicious looking aquatic-based cakes and tea on the table..

"Don't worry about it. We are fine, so what did you need help with?" Courier asked.

"We're somewhat busy. Your request better not be stupid," Alice added, while Luka and Drake just glared at her.

"Ahh, can you be quiet for a minute?" Luka asked. "Here... If you keep nibbling on this seaweed, it will probably taste good after a while..."

"Seaweed...," Alice said and gave an odd look to the plant before finally taking a bite.

"So, what is the request you need assistance with?" Luka asked as he turned towards the mermaid.

"Actually... I'm in love with a human," Meia said and held her cheeks, while blushing.

"I hope that you do not want us to play a matchmaker or something?" Courier asked as he rolled his eyes. _It wouldn't be a first time though._

"Oh no... We're already in a relationship. We've lived together in this house for a while. But right now, he's out at sea fishing...," The mermaid explained. "But… Although we love each other deeply, we're not married. It's because we can't perform the Marriage Trial dictated by marine law…"

"Marriage Trial…?" Luka asked, while lifting his eyebrow.

"When a Mermaid and a human get married, they have to offer a written pledge to the Queen at the temple on the seabed. But… The monsters along the way to the temple are too dangerous. I have got some magic power, but my darling isn't too strong. We wouldn't be able to make it there safely…," Meia explained.

"So, you want us to go to the temple at the bottom of the sea and deliver this pledge for you?" Courier confirmed, before he bit his lip and added, "But is it legal to do so? Won't there be any problems?"

"The law doesn't specifically say "Those getting married have to deliver it"," Meia answered. "It doesn't say someone else can either… But, it should be fine."

"I see, that works for me. Everything, which is not forbidden is allowed," Courier said, while mermaid smiled at him. However, before she could say anything the door swung open and a small boy entered the house.

"I'm home!" The boy said.

"Ah! Welcome home!" Meia declared happily.

"Eh…? No way, you've already had a kid together?" Luka asked in disbelief as he stared at the boy.

"No, no… This is my darling!" The mermaid explained.

"Eh…?!" Both Luka and Courier expressed their disbelief, their eyes spread wide open.

"Heeey, Meia? Who are these people?" The boy asked.

"They're very admirable adventurers! I asked them to deliver our pledge of marriage to the Queen!" The mermaid explained.

"Oh, really? Thank you!" The boy thanked the trio, which were still staring at him. "We really want to get married, so that would help us a lot."

"Um… Meia… Don't you think it would be better to wait for him to grow up a little more…?" Luka asked, voicing his and courier's thoughts.

"But my darling is turning twenty-five this year," The mermaid informed the trio.

"Ehh?" Luka spouted as he stared at the boy.

"I'm an adult! I can get married!" The boy declared.

"I used a little of my mermaid magic to stop his growth…," The mermaid explained.

"Why did you do that…?" Luka asked.

"Because… He's so cute like this!" The mermaid admitted happily.

"So that's why! I thought it was strange! Meia! That's so awful!" The boy whined, while pouting. The mermaid laughed healthfully as she listened to her husband.

"That's how it is, so please, help us!" The mermaid pleaded as she looked straight into Luka's eyes. "Please go the Queen at the bottom of the sea and deliver our pledge!"

"Please?" The boy pleaded himself as the duo stared at him.

"...All right. I'll take the request," Luka agreed and sighed at the absurd situation.

"Thank you so much!" The mermaid said, a smile on her face.

"Thank you, big bro!" The boy said with a smile on his face, before the duo hugged each other happily. In the meantime, Alice glared at her companions, while still chewing on the seaweed.

"It's only something small, but I can give you a reward. It may not be enough for you though…," Mermaid said and turned towards the duo.

"We don't need a reward, we will be happy to help you for free, you could say it's on us this time," Courier said with a smile, while Luka smiled at the man.

The mermaid returned the smile and said, "Then, please, take these… This is our pledge, and a Ball of Guidance." The mermaid then handed over a document with writing on it, and a transparent crystal to the fake hero.

"Ball of Guidance? What's this?" Luka asked as he looked at the crystal in puzzlement.

"While standing on the nearby beach, you need to use that. Then you should be able to go on the undersea road. Unfortunately it only works on one person, unless you hold your hands together," The mermaid explained. Both Luka and the courier looked at each other, before the man shook his head.

Seeing this Luka nodded, turned towards the mermaid and said, "I see… So, if I follow the road, will it take me to the temple?"

"Yes… I'll pray for your safe journey," The mermaid confirmed.

"Good Luck, big bro!" The boy said with a smile.

"Leave it to me!" Luka said and the trio left the mermaid's house.

"You sure do like being used by others. There's no point in doing such a personal request as that," Alice said, an unhappy look on her face.

"Don't say that, Alice. Isn't it great to break down racial barriers in the name of love?" Luka asked.

"But that guy will break Ilias's law, won't he? Since you believe in her laws, isn't that bad?" Alice countered.

"Urgh… That hits a weak point," Luka muttered. He then shook his head and said, "All right, let's go! To the Queen at the bottom of the sea!"

"An underwater temple… I doubt there's anything good to eat," Alice muttered to herself, before her eyes snapped open and she turned towards the courier. "That reminds me, you have plenty of meat, don't you? Give it to me."

"Are you for real?" The courier asked, while Alice gave him a deadpan. "Hell no, I am not giving you any more of the meat I have got. You have got Luka for that!"

The Monster Lord's eyes shined, before she ordered, "Your meat, give it to me, now."

"Yes, your majesty! I shall… not do that…," Courier said and grinned like crazy as he stared at the Monster Lord. Alice's eyes went wide over, her jaw dropping down, with Luka following after her.

"What the?! How can you do that?" Alice asked, clearly shocked.

"I am as confused as you are, I thought I was done for. Although, it wouldn't be the first time," Courier admitted and shrugged.

"Not the first time…? Did a monster try to hypnotise you?" Alice asked her eyes focused on the man.

"Well, there was this little Vampire Girl, called Vanilla, who currently lives in Iliasburg. I was the one who dealt with the bandit problem and she tried to use her magical eyes on me. It didn't work at all, so there you go," Courier answered and smiled.

"That's… ridiculous. Just what the hell are you?" Alice asked, while staring at the man. She then sighed and said, "So not only you are completely immune to pleasure attacks, you are also immune to very powerful magic, can withstand blows from Queen Succubus, has got some sort of magic that lets you summon anything you and you don't need to sleep… How overpowered can one really be?"

"Wait a second, how do you know about a fact that I don't need to sleep?" Courier asked his eyes narrowed.

"At first, I wasn't certain but after travelling with you for a few days, I have noticed that even when you didn't have to take guard, your body wasn't relaxed. I wasn't sure about it, until now, but it was odd that you could just keep this sort of pace without issues," Alice answered.

"I see, that explains it. Still, I am not that strong compared to you or Granberia or Tamamo or Alma Elma. I can take a lot of damage, but I can't exactly dish it out," Courier said.

"Wait a second, how can you do any of that? Are you a monster or something?" Luka asked, finally catching up to the conversation.

"Do I look like one? I am from a different world, Luka, but that's about it. Sure, I am much, much stronger compared to most people in my world, but this is the result of me going around and surviving a ton of crazy stuff. By the way, is there anything else you know about me that I should be aware of?" Courier asked as he turned towards Alice.

"Only one more thing, for whatever reason your body temperature is two degrees higher than it should be. At first, I thought you were ill, but this is not the case as you move around without any troubles at all," Alice answered, her eyes focused on the man.

"Really? I didn't know about this, well I guess you learn something every day. In any event, let's go and just do this side-quest," Courier said, shrugged and started walking. Luka could only shake his head at his companion's comment. It took them a couple of minutes but they reached the beautiful sandy beach relatively quickly.

"So on the beach with this Ball of Guidance, what do I do?" Luka asked, when suddenly a monster crawled out of the sea. The monster looked like someone took a crab, then gave it four pairs of arms on the sides and a half of female on top of it.

"...Hey. Could you give me a little of your semen? I'm a little hungry…," The monster asked.

"Asking something like that so suddenly…," Luka said before he took out his sword.

"Aww… You want to fight? Then, let me clean your dirty body. Even if you cry, while letting out all your semen, I won't stop washing you," Crab girl said before she started to shoot bubbles from her mouth.

In the meantime, Alice disappeared, while the courier took a few steps back and let Luka handle the monster. Just like the last time, the monster used only pleasure attacks on the boy, who endured them somehow, using meditate to make his boner go away. The battle was pretty simple and the only time the monster got close to finishing Luka was when she pinned him down. Luckily for him, the boy managed to score a lucky strike and sealed the monster with the next attack.

"No… What… is this?" The monster asked before it turned into a small crab.

"Haaaa… Oh?" Luka asked and noticed the monster circling around his feet, instead of running away. "What are you doing? Ouch!" Suddenly, the crab pinched Luka's toes and run off into the sea. "Geez… Annoying to the end."

"...Having trouble, as usual. If you can't blow off a monster like that with just a sneeze, you'll never be able to beat the Monster Lord," Alice said with a sigh.

"...That's you, you know. More importantly, what kind of weird training lets you use your sneeze as a weapon?" The boy asked and took out a ball of guidance. The Ball of Guidance started to shine brightly, and shot our a beam of light far out into the sea.

"Hmm… So that thing created a road of light to follow," Alice said, while contemplating the crystal.

"Road of light…?" Luka asked, confusion evident on his face.

"That light is a tunnel to the bottom of the sea, so to speak. If you follow the light closely, it's possible to go all the way to the bottom of the sea through the light tunnel," Alice explained.

"So that's how it works, huh?" Courier said as he judged the tunnel of light. He then pulled out a re-breather and put it on his mouth. He turned towards his companions, his voice muffled. "Well then, shall we go?"

"No sense waiting here, I guess. But, what is that thing on your head?" Luka asked, his left eyebrow raised.

"It is an item that lets me breathe underwater. I would rather be all wet than hold hands with a guy, no offence, Luka," The courier answered and stepped into the water, his companions close behind him.

"So we just have to stay on this light road to reach the bottom of the sea?" Luka muttered to himself before he headed down the light tunnel. "Is this light tunnel safe? I hope it doesn't suddenly vanish when we're so deep…," Luka asked underwater. For water reason he could speak clearly, without his clothes getting wet. Alice on the other hand most likely used some sort of magic to communicate. Thankfully, the courier could listen to the conversation, even though he could not participate in it, himself.

"As long as you keep holding that Ball of Guidance, it's no issue. While the bearer is in the sea, it will never fade," Alice explained. "Reaching the bottom of the sea on this road… The trial of a couple that wishes to marry… Knocking down every monster that challenges them to show their courage…"

"That's a pretty troublesome trial to have to perform just to get married…," Luka said, he then turned towards Alice and asked, "Do other monster have strange customs like this too?"

"It's different depending on the type of the monster. Some don't care at all who their partner is, and others have got extremely detailed restrictions and requirements. My family requires two conditions to be met, before they are allowed to be a partner," Alice explained.

"Your family does?" Luka asked, while the courier slowed down and swam behind the duo, while listening to the conversation.

"First, the man has to be strong. Second, the man has to want to get married. Only a man stronger than the female is allowed to marry someone of my clan. That's our law," Alice answered, while courier gave the Monster Lord a glance. _Those are some really crazy requirements. I don't think anyone, except Heinrich could do that, so how come the Monster Lord bloodline is still going on? Unless… This is some sort of fail safe, so that a weak Monster Lord does not inherit the title? That would explain it._

"That's… pretty difficult, isn't it?" Luka asked, while giving a glance to his companion. The fake hero then looked around and admired multiple fishes swimming around. "Putting that aside… It looks like a fantasy world around here. It's beautiful… The mysteries of the deep are amazing, aren't they?"

"...For now. The deep sea is the monster's domain. They will attack you without mercy once you're noticed," Alice said before she quickly looked over her shoulder. "See… Of course, right as I said that something was going to come..."

"Eh…?" Luka asked, turned his head around and noticed a clear-looking monster quickly approaching. It looked like someone took a huge jellyfish and gave it a body of a female.

"Humans this deep under the sea? How strange…," Jellyfish girl said her gaze switching between two males.

"I don't want to bother you. So, please just keep swimming along…," Luka said, but drew his sword just in case.

"You look delicious… I'll wring all the semen from you and savour it…," The monster said and entered combat stance. The courier swam away and let the boy handle the monster. The monster put up a decent fight, almost eating the fake hero at one point, if it weren't for a lucky strike. After that it was a matter of a few attacks and meditating before the fight was over.

"My strength…," The monster said before it turned into a normal jellyfish and then swam off somewhere.

"Haa… I'm glad the blade still works underwater," Luka said to himself and sheathed the sword.

"What idiotic things are you saying? You idiot," Alice said when she got back to the duo.

"You don't have to say it twice in a row…," Luka muttered and turned towards his other companion. The fake hero's eyes went wide open when he noticed a tentacle wrapping tight around courier's foot, which looked like it extended all the way from the bottom of the sea. The man followed the boy's gaze and drew a knife, but before he could cut it off, it pulled the man down.

"Wa! What is this?!" Luka asked as he began swimming to the bottom of the ocean.

"Oh… That looks like a Sea Anemone Girl's tentacle. Oh well, I'll give you a hint. The sea anemone girl drags her prey into her with her tentacle, and sucks out all their semen. Once you're caught by her, she won't stop until you're dead. But of course you'll get pleasure the entire time. Hahaha," The Monster Lord exclaimed as she watched the courier being dragged to the bottom of the sea.

"Eh…? That isn't a hint! We have to save him!" Luka shouted before he swam behind his companion, his sword ready. After a few seconds he noticed the man, who was surrounded by the tentacles ready to wrap around the rest of his body. However, before he got close enough, the courier escaped the monster, swam up to it and gave it a punch so hard it knocked the monster unconscious. He then gestured to Luka to come closer, which the fake hero did. "Are you all right, Drake?"

The man nodded his head, before he pointed at the Angel Halo, then at the monster and swam away. The fake hero sighed, but swam up to the monster, hit her a couple of times and turned her into a normal sea anemone. He then swam back up to Alice and Drake, who were waiting for him. "There sure are a lot of monsters in the sea," The fake hero said.

"But there's a lot of things to eat… It's a nice place, I like it," Alice said, while eating a fish she caught.

"Anyway, where is this temple...?" Luka asked and took a look at his surroundings. In the distance, he noticed something that looked like a temple. "Ah, that must be it? Let's go," Luka ordered and the trio swam to the temple. "Is this the temple?" The boy asked as he looked around.

The structure looked remarkably similar to the temples the boy had seen before. It was made out of stone, with multiple pillars and stone artworks located on the walls. He took in the beauty of the temple, before he turned towards Alice and asked, "What kind of monster is the Queen at the bottom of the sea?"

"I believe the Queen, who rules the southern sea is from the Kraken family. I left the governance of this part of the ocean completely up to her," Alice explained, while eating a shellfish she picked up. As the trio moved further along, they suddenly noticed a dim light moving through the temple.

"What's that…?" Luka asked, while straining his eyesight to see underwater.

"Hrm. An interesting monster," Alice said before the light came into view.

It looked like someone took an angler-fish gave it a female torso and called it a day. The monster was slowly swimming towards the courier, it seemed like the monster was barely aware of what was happening around her.

"This is a monster, who lives on the sea floor… It lures in prey by the light at the top of her head. Whether her prey is a man or something else, she absorbs it through her skin and makes it her food," Alice explained.

"That… Wait, aren't you going to run away like usual, Alice?" Luka questioned, while drawing his sword.

"Since she lives at the bottom of the sea, she's blind. So there's no reason for me to hide," Alice said, while slowly backing away. She then gave a final message to her companions, "… I'll give you a hint. She locates her prey by temperature. If you want to fight her, you'll need to make sure your body temperature the same as the water."

"I'm not cold blooded! I'm a human!" Luka yelled before he entered the combat stance. He watched as the monster approached his companion with an expressionless face. It looked like the monster was moving in a slow motion.

The boy sharply thrust with a normal attack, but with no effect as the sword bounced off like from some sort of gelatin. In that moment Luka's hand sunk into the Angler-fish Girl's soft skin. "Uwa!" The boy exclaimed as he quickly took out his sword. The monster slowly moved towards the courier, who began swimming away from the monster, but not to far enough to lose track of him. _If I can lure her into chasing me, that should give Luka plenty of time to deal with this thing. Hopefully, he notices my effort._

"If the front is no good, I wonder how the back is?!" The boy shouted and attacked the monster from behind. The attack managed to deal some damage, while the boy prepared to strike once more. He stuck the monster a couple of times, sealing her before she could come close to the courier. The monster then turned into a normal angler-fish, which swam off with the same slow motion as usual.

"Hrm. Are you finished? I went ahead a little bit and found where the Queen is. You're almost there. I'm tired of eating fish. Hurry up and finish this," Alice said once she got back.

"Yea, let's finish this," Luka agreed and the trio swam towards where Alice directed. After a few seconds the trio came across a giant hall, which had a regal looking monster at the end. It looked like someone took a white octopus and replaced the head with an upper female half. Luka swam up to the monster, while his companions stayed back letting him do all the talking.

"Are you the Queen of the southern sea?" Luka asked, when he closer.

"...Yes, that is correct. I am entrusted by the Monster Lord to rule over these southern seas. Now, human… what business have you got here, in this undersea temple?" The monster asked.

"Um… I'm a hero that…," Luka started, but the monster frowned her eyes focused on the boy as she as she heard the phrase.

"...Hero?!" She asked.

"Er, not quite… I'm actually a fake hero…," The boy explained.

"Whether you're a real or fake hero, it's all the same. You must have come to steal the orb in this temple! But I shall never hand it over!" The Kraken declared, as she entered the combat stance.

"Orb…?" Luka questioned, a puzzled look on his face. "No, I've come about this pledge..."

"Silence! If you want the orb, you will have to defeat me first!" The monster declared. "I will never hand the orb over to a bloodthirsty hero! A trespasser like you… The Queen shall punish you herself!"

"No! I don't want the orb!" Luka yelled, while drawing his sword.

"I said silence!" The monster said and the fight begun. The monster and the hero dealt a blow for blow, one using pleasure attacks, the other a disgusting sword. After a few hits, Kraken frowned and said, "The Monster Lord entrusted this orb to me… I won't let a hero take it!"

"I said, I don't want it! I'm just here to deliver this pledge!" Luka yelled, when suddenly tentacles shot out and Luka was wrapped by the Kraken's tentacles.

"Haha… Are you ready? I'll rape you slowly now…," The monster declared. Luka grunted and began struggling, but he couldn't escape. In the meantime the monster began her deadly assault on the fake hero. With one final push, the boy managed to escape. "Wow… Able to get away… You don't know when to give up."

After a few more strikes the Kraken started talking, "You are indeed a hero… You're quite strong. But the Queen of the southern seas won't be defeated that easily! I'll finish you with this move..." The Kraken's tentacles all raised above her head in a ready position. "Prepare yourself, hero. I'll attack you with all of my tentacles at once..."

Luka took a defensive stance, when suddenly all of the tentacles shot out towards the boy. Barely avoiding them, the boy sighed with relief. Seeing this the Kraken muttered to herself, "You avoided it… It looks like I'll have to use that… Forcing me to even use this technique..." The monster then chanted and a water began swimming all around it in the form of a magical diagram.

"What is this?!" Luka asked as he eyed the pentagram.

"Aqua Pentagram… An absolute defence made out of water. Now, you won't be able to lay a single finger on me," The monster explained and gave the hero a sadistic smile. Luka frowned and slashed at the barrier, only to have the water deflect his attack.

"Gah… What is this…?" Luka asked, surprised by the power of the technique.

"This isn't an ordinary barrier. There are only five users of this technique in the world. It manipulates time and space to completely nullify any physical attack. No matter how strong, they cannot break through," The monster explained.

"No way…," Luka muttered and slashed again with the same result. "No way… I can't attack her?"

"Haha… Have you realized that you have got no way of winning? Now, to finish you off…," The monster muttered, when suddenly she noticed a shadow in the corner of her eyes. The shadow's eyes shined for a second, before it hid behind one of the many pillars. "...Oh? Who's there?"

"Eh…? Alice, what… Guh…," Luka muttered before he fell asleep.

"What was that shadow…?" Kraken pondered. "Hmm… But before I chase after them, I'll finish off this boy." She shot her tentacles towards the fake hero, only for the boy to swiftly avoid the attack. "Impossible… Avoiding it, while being asleep?! And what's with this strange feeling… It's as if, he's a completely different person..."

"Zzzzzzz…Wall…? Break?!" Luka asked, his blade flashing as it shattered the barrier. Seeing this, courier's jaw fell to the ground as he stared at his companion. _What the hell?! How did he do that?! Wait a second… Don't tell me, this is his power?!_

"No way! A physical attack can't break my barrier! Breaking through time and space… How can he do such a thing?!" The monster asked, clearly shocked. Then before she could react a dazzling star fell unto her, dealing enormous damage. "Guh… What powerful magic! How can a human use such magic?!" The Kraken asked before she started to tremble. However, the boy was not yet done as he attacked in a deadly dance, his sword dancing through water. "Impossible… This must be a bad dream! I don't stand a chance!"

"...Stop the fight! There's no need to continue!" Alice ordered, her eyes shining brightly.

With a short delay, Luka woke up, looked around and asked, "...Huh? What was I doing…?"

"Just, what are you…? I have got no power to fight back…," The monster said before she slumped down on her tentacles. She turned towards Luka, still intending to fight to the very end. "...I don't care, who you are… I cannot hand over the orb, even if it costs me my life. Hero… Why are you going so far for this orb? Have you gotten bored of slaughtering monsters on this continent?"

"It's like I said from the start! I'm not after whatever strange orb it is that you keep talking about!" Luka shouted and groaned.

"What…? Then why did come here?!" The monster asked, not believing the fake hero.

"I said I was bringing you a pledge of marriage! I cam to deliver it in the place of the couple getting married!" Luka answered and face-palmed.

"...Why didn't you say that earlier?" The monster asked, a puzzled look on her face.

"I did! I said it right at the start!" Luka answered and groaned, again. He then sighed, looked around and noticed the courier, who swam up to them.

The queen of the southern ocean noticed the man, frowned and asked, "Who is that?"

"This is my friend, he is name is Abraham Drake. And he is not here for the orb, either," Luka answered, while the man nodded his head.

"… What a funny misunderstanding," Alice said as she swam up to the trio.

"So, that was the case… It seems I put you through some unnecessary trouble… I shall receive the pledge of marriage. Now hero, whom is it that you are marrying? It is that silver-haired one?" The queen asked, while glancing at Alice.

"...N...No! I said I was delivering it for someone else!" Luka answered.

"...Of course not, you idiot," Alice snapped, while giving Luka a glare.

The boy turned back towards the queen and explained, "I was asked by a mermaid to deliver it to you… Here, this is the pledge." The boy then handed over the papers and the pledge.

"Deliver…? How come the couple themselves didn't come? Children these days…," The Kraken complained to herself as she read through the pledge. "...I guess it doesn't matter. The law doesn't specifically say that people getting married have to bring it, I guess… At any rate, the pledge has been delivered. As a Queen of the southern sees, I declare Meia and her husband married. Now, take this Pledge Ring. Wearing this ring on your finger, you will always remember the pledge of marriage to your partner," The Kraken said and dropped the ring in Luka's palm. "No matter the difficulty, you must always support each other. Now, I shall give you the Queen's blessing."

"Hmph, I'll give them the Monster Lord's blessing too," Alice added.

"Oh! I'll give them a Hero's blessing, too! How about you, Drake?" The boy asked and noticed the men had a paper in his hand, which said "I will them courier's blessing. I hope that they will love will flourish no matter the distance." The boy smiled and the ceremony continued in silence, due to the absence of the main party.

"By the way… Are you possibly…," The Kraken asked and turned towards Alice.

"…I'm nobody important. I'm just a travelling gourmet who passed by on a whim," Alice answered. In the corner, she could see her companions giving her look of disbelief as they looked at the current Monster Lord.

However, the Kraken didn't seem to remember, what she said a few seconds ago and said, "Incredible. Coming to the bottom of the sea in search of food! Unfortunately, there is nothing too amazing to eat down here."

"Well, our business here is done. I don't want to spend any more time here, so I'm going back," Alice said and swam away from them.

Seeing this, Luka sighed and said, "All right, it's time to go back… But I do really have to go back through that light tunnel? It was pretty troublesome coming down..."

"You don't need to return that way. As an apology for before, I shall send you both to the surface," Kraken said and smiled.

"Thank you, that will help… Eh?" Luka asked before tentacles wrapped around both his and courier's body.

"I think dry land is that way…," Kraken muttered as she looked above us, as if she was looking for something. _No way, she can't be serious…?_

"Excuse me… You wouldn't possibly be…," Luka asked nervously as he glanced at the monster.

"I am delighted at humans and monsters being able to love each other. If there is anything else you need to discuss with me, please feel free to come to this temple again. Goodbye!" Kraken said and hurled both males through the water at a sixty degree angle. The duo swam through the water like rockets, their bodies and water causing huge friction. The courier looked at his companion, who looked like he was in huge pain as he gurgled in the water, while he simply enjoyed the ride. _That is awesome! I want a ride like this back in my world!_ In a matter of seconds the duo reached the surface, flew through the air and landed on the beach, their bodies leaving huge trails behind them.

"Blegh. Gurhl…," Luka muttered, while writhing in the sand as he suffered both from the water and the impact from the landing.

"What a funny queen," Alice said, when she once again appeared out of nowhere.

"I agree with you on that one," Courier said, with his head free from the re-breather and walked up to the fake hero. "Hey, Luka, how are you feeling?"

"Uhhgg…," Luka answered, while Alice sighed as she watched her companion. Slowly, but surely, Luka got a hold of himself and stood back up on his own two feet. "Alice… Thanks for helping me before..."

"...Hmph. That was the last time. Because it was all misunderstanding, I hesitated to just leave you," Alice answered with a sigh.

"Really, today was just one issue after another…," Luka complained.

"And it's not over yet," Courier added and smiled bitterly.

"What do you mean, Drake?" Luka asked with his eyebrow raised.

"Well, to put it simply, I don't think you need me anymore. After seeing you in action, I feel like I won't be much of an asset compared to the Monster Lord, who taught you all this time," Courier answered.

"I don't think that's true! I mean, you were able to help me with Alma Elma and even helped out with harpies and bandits, not to mention you can use the same moves as I do," Luka countered, feeling that this wasn't going to end well.

"That is correct, but compared to the power, you have shown during the fight, I feel like I am going to fall behind in a matter of days. I have been watching you Luka and the pace at which you become stronger, by simply defeating your opponents is ridiculous. When we were back at Iliaport, you were already getting better. Now you were able to defeat a Queen of the southern sea, with that amazing power of yours. Not to mention, you can heal by simply meditating. I could still help you out on your journey, but to be perfectly honest, I feel like you can handle yourself. As long as you keep practising I am sure you will become strong enough to succeed in your goal," Courier explained. He could see doubt in the boy's eyes as he bit his lip.

"I am not saying, you are wrong, but are you certain? I mean, I would feel much better, having someone else to talk to," Luka admitted and scratched his neck.

"I am sure you will do just fine. In any event, I guess this is goodbye, I will go on my own and see the world for myself. Don't worry, I won't become a slave or a food to a monster, just because you aren't here to fight for me and I will not kill any other monsters either, okay? Still, I want you to take this," Courier said and gave Luka, what looked like a small cylinder, with a pin. Unbeknownst to the fake hero, it was known as a Flash-bang grenade, which allowed to hinder your opponent during the fight.

"What is this?" The boy asked, as he examined the device.

"It is a weapon, that can distract your opponent during the fight. It is mostly harmless, but try not to look at it or hear it, when it goes off," The courier explained and shrugged.

"Wait? A weapon? Are you sure, it won't hurt anyone?" Luka asked, doubt evident in his voice.

"Please, Luka. I know well enough that killing will not solve anything in this world, so it would be pure idiocy to give you something that does that. Don't worry, it will not kill anyone, even if you hold it right in front of your face, which I don't recommend. But, it could save your life in a pinch. Either way, this is goodbye, good luck on your quest, Luka," Courier said and gave the boy the hand, which he shook before he turned towards Alice. "I would like to say goodbye to you as well, Alice."

"Hrmp, you are an interesting fellow, so It is a bit of a shame that you are going to go. You would make a great cook," Alice said and gave the man a glance.

Hearing this, the man chuckled and said, "Don't worry, I sure we will come across each other one day. That said, can I ask you of something, Alice? I would like to take a look at your tour guide, it would help me out a lot."

"Fine, but don't damage it," Alice said and handed over the book. The man gently opened the old tome and read through it, his eyes skipping through pages only stopping at locations and names of the locations. It took him around a minute before he was done.

"There, that should be enough. Then I guess, I should give you something too. Here, take this," The man said and handed over a full jar of happiness honey, causing Alice to smile happily.

She took the jar, opened it and licked the honey from one of her fingers. "Mmm… Delicious. I guess that is good enough, take care, Drake," The Monster Lord said and gave the courier her hand, which he squeezed gently.

"So do you, Alice. Take care, both of you," the man said and headed out north, waving his hand behind them. A quick glance behind he noticed the duo headed out as well, but this time heading out east. _Well then, I guess it is time to actually do something productive in this world. I think, I know what I am going to do now, seeing how powerful the Four Heavenly Knights are. Watch out, Alice, this courier is going to surprise you at least a few more times_! He then smiled and began his journey once more.

Chapter 6 End


	8. Chapter 7

First of all, I would like to apologize for this, but I really don't like how this fiction turned out.

It is shit, the way I see it.

And the best part is, that it started as a joke.

I thought I would write like 3 chapters tops and be done with it, but I have decided to go for it.

Sadly, I lost my way somewhere and I would rather rewrite the whole thing than continue it the way it is.

So, this is what I will be doing, I hereby declare this fiction outdated and on hiatus.

I will return to it, once I get a bit better at writing, so probably somewhere in 2017.

I hope you had fun, till chapter 6, because 7 is just a mess.

Ediros, signing out


	9. Chapter 8

First of all, I would like to apologize for this, but I really don't like how this fiction turned out.

It is shit, the way I see it.

And the best part is, that it started as a joke.

I thought I would write like 3 chapters tops and be done with it, but I have decided to go for it.

Sadly, I lost my way somewhere and I would rather rewrite the whole thing than continue it the way it is.

So, this is what I will be doing, I hereby declare this fiction outdated and on hiatus.

I will return to it, once I get a bit better at writing, so probably somewhere in 2017.

I hope you had fun, till chapter 6, because 7 is just a mess.

Ediros, signing out


	10. Chapter 10 - New Version is UP

SHORT UPDATE,

New version is up, just check my profile, or wait for it to be released by servers.


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